The Prime Minister says the Pacific Island Development Forum was never established to counter the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat.

Voreqe Bainimarama made these comments after some opposition members claim that PIDF was formed to go against the principles of PIFS.

Bainimarama says these allegations are not true as Fiji has rejoined PIFS many years back and he just doesn’t have the time to attend the meetings.

He says the Foreign Affairs Minister and the Minister for Trade have been attending meetings on his behalf.

“We like the Attorney General has mentioned in PIDF we had more members than PIFS and it’s not the idea to establish PIDF so that it can counter PIFS”

Bainimarama says the Fijian government will continue to work with other Pacific Island countries to ensure that ideas are formulated to impact the development of small island nations.