John Key arrives for first ever Fiji visit

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key has touched down in Nausori for his first ever visit to Fiji.

Key inspected the military guard of honour at Nausori Airport and met with Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama before they departed the airport to make their way to Suva for the welcome ceremony at the Vale Ni Bose complex.

He and Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama will speak at the banquet at Grand Pacific Hotel tonight.

Key had this message before departing NZ earlier today.

Key is expected to ask Bainimarama to forgive and support former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark’s bid for the UN Secretary General’s post.

Helen Clark imposed sanctions on Fiji after the 2006 coup.

Key is the first NZ Prime Minister to visit Fiji since the coup. 

He will meet with Bainimarama tomorrow morning and told NZ Herald that he would discuss Helen Clark’s campaign.

New Zealand is supporting Fiji’s bid for Peter Thomson, Fiji’s Ambassador to the UN, to be the next President of the General Assembly and Key said he was hoping Fiji would support Helen Clark.

Key said Bainimarama may not be Clark’s No.1 cheerleader, but Key does not think that the Fijian leader will go out of his way to try to undermine her.

Although the Security Council rather than individual UN members select the Secretary General, the support of other countries adds moral weight to a campaign.

Key said Helen Clark had done the right thing in imposing those sanctions which applied to members of Bainimarama’s administration for the eight years until elections were held in 2014.

He thinks both sides have their own perspective on what took place and New Zealand will always defend the actions it took because they believe them to be right. 

Key said he is sure Bainimarama and his team felt they did what they had to do.

There are hopes Cyclone Winston will be an icebreaker in the relationship after New Zealand sent a large deployment to help with the recovery.

Key will also try to resolve another hangover from the coup, after which Fiji was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum.

That suspension was lifted after Fiji’s 2014 elections but Bainimarama has boycotted it and is calling for New Zealand and Australia to be ejected before he will return.

Key said the Pacific Islands Forum is stronger with Fiji in it.

NZ media are reporting that John Key has also undertaken to raise a ban Fiji has put on some New Zealand journalists, Michael Field and Barbara Dreaver.

Today I'm travelling to Fiji to meet with PM Bainimarama and inspect the recovery efforts from Cyclone Winston.https://t.co/YHcXagoYIt

— John Key (@johnkeypm) June 9, 2016