Sitiveni Rabuka

COP28 Director General Majid Al Suwaidi meets with Fiji PM

In his remarks at the Pacific SIDS High-Level Dialogue on Climate Change in Fiji, Al Suwaidi underscored the COP28 Presidency’s commitment to delivering for vulnerable countries at the upcoming climate summit. Al Suwaidi also recognized that climate change is an existential threat to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and emphasized the COP28 Presidency’s intention to keep 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach.

Fiji to re-open High Commission office in PNG

Fiji Prime Minister, Sitiveni Rabuka has confirmed this following a bilateral meetings with PNG Prime Minister James Marape in Suva yesterday.

Rabuka said part of the reason why they had to close the high commission was economic considerations brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He also said now that they are recovering from that, Fiji is looking at immediately appointing a non-resident High Commissioner to begin negotiations which can only be done after they have a new budget cycle in the middle of the year.

Fiji PM expresses gratitude to Ardern

He has joined leaders around the world in paying tribute to Ardern’s leadership over the past five years.

Rabuka said Ardern’s charisma and humility gave her a natural empathy with Pacific islanders.

He added that Ardern consolidated New Zealand’s relationship with Fiji and other island states and it was during a period when the Pacific was becoming increasingly important in international affairs.

Rabuka highlighted an incident that took place when Ardern visited Fiji in 2020.

Fiji leader feels he has repaired Pacific-Kiribati relations

On Friday, Rabuka led a high-level delegation to Tarawa - and key on the agenda was Kiribati's membership of the Pacific Islands Forum.

Kiribati's withdrawal from the Forum last July fractured regional unity and solidarity.

President Taneti Maamau refused to attend the annual Leaders' gathering in Suva due to what he claimed was failure by the PIF to address concerns of equity, equality and inclusiveness in a number of key decisions including the appointment of the current Secretary General.

Rabuka will 'reunite' the Pacific

Rabuka is scheduled to head to Tarawa on Friday to meet with President Taneti Maamau for bilateral discussions.

According to the Fijian government, Rabuka wants to "find a way to bring Kiribati back" to the Pacific Islands Forum and "nurture regional solidarity".

Kiribati withdrew its membership from the regional body in July last year over concerns the Forum was not meeting the needs of the Micronesian subregion.

     

Rabuka's first trip overseas to be to Kiribati

The Kiribati government has confirmed that Rabuka will lead a delegation to the Micronesian nation on Friday.

It said the request for the visit was made by the Fiji government as part of its official engagements overseas.

Kiribati residents have been urged to "clean their villages" to keep the capital Tarawa "beautiful and clean" before the Fiji delegation visits.

     

Sitiveni Rabuka is Fiji's new prime minister

Rabuka was elected with 28 votes to 27.

"It was a very close margin," Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) youth forum president Ben Daveta said.

From the polls to parliament, every decision was balanced on a knife's edge.

First, no party gained an outright majority to rule.

Then it took the king-makers Sodelpa two split-votes to choose a coalition partner -- and even in the final secret ballot to elect a prime minister, someone in the opposition ranks voted for the other side.

It has been a frantic time, Daveta said.

New chapter for Fiji - Rabuka to lead coalition

There were jubilant scenes in Suva overnight as the kingmaker in Fiji's general election, the Social Democratic Liberal Party (Sodelpa) declared it was partnering with the People's Alliance (PA) and the National Federation Party (NFP) to form a new coalition government to end FijiFirst's eight-year reign.

The decision was made in a secret ballot by Sodelpa's 30-member management board - 16 voted in favour of the PA-NFP alliance and 14 for FijiFirst - after three days of intense negotiations.

Fiji opposition leaders question integrity of election

This comes after provisional results, displayed on a Fiji Election Office app, showing a clear lead for the opposition People's Alliance Party, over the ruling Fiji First Party were stopped due to an upload error that the electoral office said redistributed the allocation of votes displayed in the app.

The app was taken offline for several hours and then restarted in the early hours of Thursday morning showing an almost unassailable lead for the ruling Fiji First Party over all other parties.

Fiji's opposition leader Sitiveni Rabuka resigns as member of Parliament

Rabuka made the announcement while delivering his response to the opening address by the President Jioji Konrote in Parliament this morning.

The former Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) leader said his resignation as a member of Parliament would make way for the president to ask the prime minister to work with the new leader of the opposition and members of the opposition.

Opposition whip Lynda Tabuya said she supported Rabuka's move.

Rabuka and Tabuya had both contested the party leader and deputy positions last week respectively but lost.