KEY POINTS:
Prime Minister Helen Clark says diplomatic channels with Fiji are still open.
Her comment follows a report by Gerald McGhie, chairman of the global anti-corruption group Transparency International, who called on New Zealand to reopen diplomatic channels with the Fiji interim Government.
He said that if the United States could talk to North Korea, New Zealand should be able to re-establish relations with its Pacific neighbour.
But the Prime Minister said yesterday that diplomatic channels had not been closed off.
"We have a high commissioner in Fiji and the High Commission engages in Fiji as you would expect it to," she said.
"It's particularly active in the joint working group between the Pacific Islands Forum nations and the Fiji interim Government ... "
Fiji coup leader Commodore Frank Bainimarama expelled New Zealand High Commissioner Michael Green a year ago after accusing him of interfering in the country's domestic affairs.
NZ imposed targeted sanctions against Suva following the 2006 coup. These banned travel here by members of the interim regime. After Mr Green's expulsion, the sanctions were widened to cover transit visas.
- NZPA
