Rabuka apologises to MSG Leaders Caucus for Fukushima statement

Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka confirms that he has extended his sincere apology to the Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders Caucus for the statement he made regarding the treated nuclear water discharge from the Fukushima Plant in Japan after reviewing the IAEA report.

Rabuka has said to fellow citizens that he wants to make it crystal clear that his statement was never intended to oppose the collective views of the MSG nations.

He says it was, in fact, a representation of our sovereign nation's perspective, firmly rooted in scientific knowledge.

Rabuka says he acknowledges that he might have unintentionally misaligned with the spirit of the Port Vila Accord, discussed during the MSG Meeting in the recent MSG Leaders Meeting in Vanuatu.

The Prime Minister is currently attending the Melanesian Spearhead Group Meeting on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in the Cook Islands.

Rabuka says with some of their counterparts from Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea unable to attend this year's Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting, they are confident that the sub-regional group will continue to make progress on the agenda items they agreed upon in August.

He says excitingly, it's the first time the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat has given the MSG Leaders caucus the chance to discuss the collective decisions before the leaders meeting.