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April 16th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Papua New Guinea will provide Fiji with a multi-million dollar grant to help it hold democratic elections next year.
Australia and New Zealand have expressed concern about whether Fiji will hold elections in 2014, but Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister Peter O’Neill is confident the poll will proceed.
During a state visit by his Fijian counterpart Commodore Frank Bainimarama, Mr O’Neill has announced Papua New Guinea will give Fiji more than $20 million to help the country conduct elections.
“We look forward to working closely with the Fijian government on that,” Mr O’Neill said.
The two countries further strengthened their relationship by easing travel requirements and establishing an annual leaders meeting.
The Fiji National Provident Fund also signed an agreement to acquire a 40 per cent stake in Papua New Guinea mobile telecommunications company BeMobile.
Commodore Bainimarama arrived in Papua New Guinea on Monday for a four-day state visit and was welcomed at Port Moresby’s international airport with a guard of honour and a 19-gun salute.
Mr O’Neill visited Fiji last year and has repeatedly said he would like to Pacific countries re-engage with Fiji.
Topics:
elections,
government-and-politics,
papua-new-guinea,
pacific
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-16/png-promises-grant-for-fiji-elections/4633160
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