N.Z. diplomat called home discuss Fiji

Press, 20 October 1987, Page 6

N.Z. diplomat called home discuss Fiji

By

OLIVER RIDDELL

in Parliament The New Zealand High Commissioner in Fiji, Mr Rod Gates, has been called back to Wellington to talk over the situation there with the Cabinet Mr Gates will arrive home tomorrow. The Act-, ing Prime Minister, Mr Palmer, said he did not know when Mr Gates would return to Fiji. Mr Palmer said the Cabinet had discussed Fiji at some length . at its meeting yesterday. The Cabinet was happy with the decision on Fiji reached by the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Vancouver. The decision to call Mr Gates home . had been made by the Cabinet after a discussion about the nature of New Zealand’s future relations with Fiji after the resignation of the Governor-General, Ratu Sir Penaia Ganilau, and Fiji’s self-expulsion from the Commonwealth. “I don’t believe Mr Gates will have any difficulty in getting back into Fiji,” Mr Palmer said. The Cabinet had con-

firmed the earlier decisions on aid to Fiji, the sugar agreement and military co-operation, and these would now be. implemented. That reflected an inevitable change in the Government - to - Government relationship now that all hope of a consensus had gone, Mr Palmer said. He was not quite sure what New Zealand’s formal relationship with Fiji was at this time, but insisted that New Zealand still had a relationship with Fiji. The Cabinet would hear from the Prime Minister, Mr Lange, on the outcome of the Vancouver meeting as well as from Mr Gates before reacting further to the latest events in Fiji. “It is important to make the right decisions about Fiji rather than make quick decisions,” Mr Palmer said. He paid tribute to the job Mr Gates had done in recent months, saying he was “a diplomat of the very highest quality,” and that he did not want to foreshadow or pre-judge this week’s meeting with him.