Fiji is trying to get Australia and New Zealand to change the narrative with regards to the travel bubble. [Source: TVNZ]

Fiji is trying to get Australia and New Zealand to change the narrative with regards to the travel bubble.

Attorney General and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says they would prefer our Pacific neighbors say they can open it to Fiji or respective countries within the Pacific region as opposed to treating everyone as a whole group.

Sayed-Khaiyum told parliament that the talk coming out from Wellington and Canberra is that the Pacific will be included in the bubble.

However, he stressed that different countries in the Pacific have different experiences and capacities pertaining to COVID-19.

“Because they for example when they do talk about opening a travel bubble with Singapore they don’t say Asia, they single out Singapore because of the capacity of Singapore we are similarly trying to get them to think along those lines.”

The Economy Minister also stressed that Fiji is the only Pacific island country that actually has a WHO certified COVID-19 testing lab while all other pacific island countries send their samples overseas to be tested.

Sayed-Khaiyum says the rate of testing in Fiji is also significantly higher and there have been no fatalities linked to COVID-19.