Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama opened our newest overseas mission this morning in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil.
Present at the opening were diplomats of various countries based in Brasilia and civil servants of the Brazilian Government together with a small Fijian delegation of members of our missions based in Washington and New York.
PM Bainimarama expressed the gratitude of the Fijian Government to its Brazilian counterpart in assisting our ambassador designate, Cama Tuiloma establish the mission in Brasilia and in turn our presence on the South American continent.
Fiji is the first Pacific small island developing state to establish a resident mission on the South American continent.
Commodore Bainimarama said the opening of the new Fiji Mission was a shift from confinement to nations closest to the Pacific islands geographically and represented an outward looking and genuine engagement on the part of Government with the wider international community.
He encouraged the Brazilian Government to take advantage of our new mission by exploring the opportunities available to them in Fiji and the
Pacific.
In return, the Brazilian Under Secretary General for Asia Pacific Region, Ms Maria Edileuza Reis expressed their intention to open up a resident mission for Brazil in Suva as soon as possible.
Ms Reis said that Brazil looked to further develop close cooperation with Pacific island countries and the Fiji mission in Brasilia could be a start in engaging and enhancing cooperation.
“A mechanism for political consultations is currently being developed between Brazil and Fiji and this is a step forward in further strengthening our bilateral relations. Once in place this will provide a way forwarding for our two countries in coordinating positions with regards to multilateral issues," Mrs said.
Commodore Bainimarama was further extended an invite on behalf of the President of Brazil, Her Excellency, Dilma Rouseff to attend the Rio+20 UN conference on sustainable development in 2012.
The Fijian Prime Minister was later hosted to lunch by the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr Ruy Nogueira, who offered Brazil’s assistance to Fiji in areas of sugar, agriculture and sporting development.
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