It’s been eight years since the European Union had full development cooperation with Fiji.

EU’s Head of Delegation for the Pacific Ambassador Andrew Jacobs says restoring full development assistance with Fiji will be realized next week with the European Commissioner for International Development and Cooperation Neven Mimica arriving in the country.

“The Commissioner will meet the PM on the Monday morning for a courtesy call but also and very importantly, it’s to sign with the PM an agreement on our new cooperation program with Fiji which takes us up to 2020. This is called the national indicative program it carries a budget of bilateral support of 29 million Euros. It’s focused on Sugar and Agriculture as well as governance, particularly access to justice.”

Mimica will also be participating in the EU – ACP Joint Parliamentary Assembly which is holding discussions on various issues among the 79 member states of the African, Caribbean and Pacific states.

The Commissioner’s visit to Fiji will also be his first to the Pacific since been appointed in November last year.