Vanuatu's Prime Minister, Sato Kilman, has pulled out of next week's planned meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) in Solomon Islands.
The meeting was called by the Solomons government to reconcile Vanuatu and Fiji after the previous Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Natapei called off the MSG summit in July, preventing Fiji from assuming the chairmanship.PACNEWS reports that Kilman's first political advisor, John Shing, said the Vanuatu PM has decided not to go because Fiji's leader Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama had already indicated that he wouldn't be part of the reconciliation.
Shing says Kilman will send his foreign minister, Georges Wells, instead. Fiji will send Foreign Affairs Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola.
After his election last Thursday, Kilman indicated his wish to normalise relations between the two countries.
Shing said Commodore Bainimarama spoke to Kilman over the phone on Monday.