Political dialogue to begin next year

Political dialogue will begin in Fiji next year and this will be followed by the formulation of a new constitution in 2013.

Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has presented this timeline to the Political Committee of the ACP Parliamentary Assembly in Budapest.

Kubuabola said elections will be held in Fiji in 2014 however the government will focus on institutional and socio-economic reforms until 2012.

He said this includes progress towards a race-free sustainable democratic system, the removal of references to ethnicity in public institutions and the removal of institutionalized racial biases in government tendering processes.

Kubuabola also invited the ACP Parliamentary Assembly to send a mission to Fiji late next year or early 2013, when the political dialogue is underway, to see the progress being made on the ground.


Story by: Vijay Narayan