Fiji said they wanted to continue to push for the Tonga government to come to the negotiation table to discuss ownership of Minerva reefs.
Fiji regarded the move as urgent so that it can register the reefs.
The two countries hold different opinions
Fiji said they wanted to continue to push for the Tonga government to come to the negotiation table to discuss ownership of Minerva reefs.
Fiji regarded the move as urgent so that it can register the reefs.
The two countries hold different opinions about Minerva, Fiji’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Inia Seruiratu told Fiji Broadcasting Corporation News.
He said Tonga believed it was an island while Fiji believed it was a submerged reef.
“It is very critical for us now to register our baselines and all our claims because of the rise in sea levels. Because may be who knows in the next few years some of these baselines will be under water again and that is why we need to quicken the process,” Seruiratu reportedly said.
The Minister has also revealed Tonga has yet to respond to an invitation from Fiji in November last year to discuss the reefs.
The ownership of Minerva Reefs has been an unresolved issue between Fiji and Tonga for quite a while.
Minerva reefs is a group of two submerged atolls named after the whaling ship Minerva that wrecked there in 1829.
The reefs are regarded as the fishing ground of the ancestors of the people of Fiji’s Ono-i-Lau.
Tonga declared Minerva part of its territory in 1972, after late King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV made a royal proclamation that it belongs to Tonga.
The two atolls were then named Teleki Tokelau (North) and Teleki Tonga (South). Tonga constructed two structures in each of the reefs where beacons were placed.
But in November 2005 Fiji complained to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) claiming Minerva was part of its territory. The claim 