Foreign Minister Murray McCully says New Zealand is gradually normalising relations with Fiji, and has recently allowed members of the regime to enter the country to play sport and study.
Ministers from Australia and the Pacific have finished a two-day visit to Fiji as the country prepares for elections due in about seven months' time.
Murray McCully. Photo: AFP
Mr McCully said New Zealand has in the past month allowed a member of Fiji's military to play in the Wellington Sevens, and granted study visas to two senior regime members to study public sector reforms.
"That wouldn't have happened a year ago. We're on a gradual path of normalising the relationship and recognising the progress."
The ministers say significant efforts have been made towards the elections, including the registering of half a million voters.
But the chairperson of the non-governmental Coalition for Human Rights in Fiji, Shamima Ali, says many questions remain over campaign rules and the use of public money. She said she hopes elections legislation due to be passed soon will provide some clarity.
During the visit, Australia's foreign minister Julie Bishop met the military regime's leader, Frank Bainimarama - the first such meeting since 2008.
Mr McCully, who did not seek a meeting with the commodore, said it was natural that the incoming Australian government would do so, to discuss modifications to the policy on Fiji it had promised.
