“I’m Frank by name and Frank by nature and I know that he’s similarly plain speaking Kiwi.”
Those were the words of Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama as he spoke about some public exchanges between him and NZ Prime Minister John Key.
While speaking at the Fiji Trade and Investment Symposium in Auckland in the last hour, Bainimarama says it’s true that he had a couple of issues with John Key saying that Bainimarama had shot his mouth off about the Pacific Islands Forum or that Key hoped that Fiji were not going to be “silly” about enforcing the provisions of the Public Order Act.
But Bainimarama says this has not unduly affected the warmth of their relationship.
He thanked Key for being a straight shooter, for not taking things too personally and especially giving Bainimarama the opportunity to get together with him again in New Zealand and enjoy each other’s company.
Bainimarama also said that it is unfortunate that some of the NZ media reporting the NZ Prime Minister’s visit to Fiji back in June suggested that Bainimarama had given Key a hard time.
He says he thinks that John Key understood that speech on what happened in Fiji from 2006 to date including elections in 2014 and the introduction of the 2013 constitution.
Bainimarama says the indignation was on the part of some of the NZ media, not the Prime Minister, and undoubtedly because Bainimarama had also criticised their unrelentingly negative and unbalanced reporting of events in Fiji.
The Fijian Prime Minister also had a message for the NZ media today.
Bainimarama says now that the bans on individual journalists visiting Fiji have been lifted, they are welcome without exception to visit Fiji like the journalists of other countries.
He says they are free to report without restriction once they have been accredited in the usual way by the Department of Information.
Bainimarama says that all he asks is the NZ journalists cover events fairly and in a balanced manner, which is the obligation of journalists the world over.
He says that his agenda on this NZ visit is to strengthen the quality of the engagement between Fiji and NZ and to bring the two nations even closer together.
Bainimarama also says that Fiji is open for business and is enjoying 7 years of consecutive economic growth.
He called on NZ investors to come and invest in Fiji.
Bainimarama also confirmed that the two way trade in goods and services on average is worth almost 700 million dollars a year while 120,000 Kiwis visit Fiji each year contributing more than 200 million dollars to the Fijian economy.
Bainimarama will meet with NZ Prime Minister John Key later this week.
He will also attend the Bledisloe test between the All Blacks vs Wallabies at Eden Park at 6.35pm Saturday after an invitation by Key.
