Update: 11:29AM FIJI President Major-General Ret’d Jioji Konrote had an audience with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace during his visit to the United Kingdom.
Mr Konrote briefed the head of the Commonwealth on the rehabilitation effort in the wake of Severe Tropical Cyclone Winston.
He briefly outlined what was being done to rebuild homes and schools in the affected areas.
He also thanked Her Majesty for her personal donation to the relief effort.
A Government statement said the Queen also congratulated Fiji for its Rugby Sevens win against Great Britain at the 2016 Rio Olympics in August and shared some of her memories of previous visits to Fiji – the first in 1953.
Queen Elizabeth thanked Fiji for joining the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy – an initiative aimed at conserving trees and forests and minimising the impacts of climate change.
She also presented the President with a certificate of membership of the QCC.
The President has been in Britain to open the largest exhibition of Fijian indigenous art at the University of East Anglia and to meet members of the Fijian community living in the United Kingdom.
