Senior Commonwealth figures have launched a bid to reinstate Fiji as a member of the group of nations by mid 2014.
Commonwealth Games Federation president Prince Tunku Imran of Malaysia raised the issue at a sports breakfast attended by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and other leaders in Colombo on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
Fiji has been suspended from the Commonwealth since 2009.
Fiji is excluded from all Commonwealth meetings and from the Commonwealth Games and other sporting events and misses out on most forms of Commonwealth assistance.
Prince Imran said the suspension of Fiji should be lifted before the start of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games on July 23rd next year.
He said the Commonwealth Games are very much of and for the Commonwealth, a family of nations, and in any family it is important that all members can participate.
According to Prince Imran recently the federation made submissions directly to the Commonwealth Secretary-General for the issue of Fiji’s current full suspension to be reviewed to enable their athletes to participate at the Games in Glasgow.
He added they hope that leaders will give this matter further consideration so the family can once again be complete.
British Commonwealth Minister Hugo Swire, who met with Abbott at the breakfast, gave a presentation on the Glasgow Games.
He said organisers wanted to replicate the same “feel-good factors” as the London Olympics.
Story by: Filipe Naikaso
[Source: sbs.com.au]
