New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on Wednesday that Fiji could hold elections to return to democracy within months if there was the political will to do so.
Peters, who was in the Fiji capital of Suva, met with Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama and election officials on Tuesday.
The talks between Bainimarama and ministers from six Pacific states, including Australia, New Zealand and Tonga, were "worthwhile" but still needed evaluation, Peters said earlier.
It was the first high-level meeting involving Bainimarama since the 2006 coup.
Peters said Bainimarama has done nothing to persuade New Zealand to lift sanctions, or to show that he was moving toward elections, the Stuff NZ website reported on Wednesday.
The Pacific ministers will report to a full meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders in Niue next month.
Bainimarama, who overthrew the previous government in 2006, has pledged elections in the first quarter of next year, but a European Union delegation visiting last week expressed doubt the deadline would be met.
He has said in recent months he aimed to root out corruption and reshape Fiji's race-based political system before holding elections.
Peters said Commodore Bainimarama raised New Zealand sanctions during the meeting.
"We made it clear that if we saw signs toward an election developing then we would relent ... But at this point in time we saw no reason to change," he said.
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said travel bans currently in place against members and supporters of the military-led government will remain in place.
The Pacific ministers will also meet with Fiji's former Prime Minister Laisenia Qarese, who was deposed in a coup in 2006, in Suva on Wednesday.
Foreign ministers from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,Samoa, Tonga and Tuvalu are in Fiji to press the interim government to honor promises to hold elections by March, 2009.
The ministers are due to hold a press conference on Wednesday afternoon.
Source:Xinhua
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