The invitation for the Great Council of Chiefs to meet King Charles III in London was informally communicated and not meant for travel in November.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka said he was misquoted by The Fiji Times that the trip would take place in November.
“What I meant to your reporter was that the Great Council of Chiefs’ meeting was in November – that’s when they will decide on whether they take up that offer for a delegation to go and meet with the King in London,” Mr Rabuka said.
“It was just informally communicated.
“He (GCC chair) is quite right that they cannot do anything until they are formally informed in writing – an official communication which I will send from the Office of the Prime Minister, having received the notification from His Excellency the President when he was there (in London).
“I have the letter that will be communicated to the chairman and the Secretariat of the GCC for them to be prepared, so that at the meeting on the 25th of November they will have that as an item on the agenda.”
Following the report in this newspaper, the GCC Secretariat said in a statement that there had been no formal invitation from Buckingham Palace for a meeting with King Charles III.
The Great Council of Chiefs, reinstated in 2023 after a 16-year suspension, is expected to deliberate on several key national issues during its upcoming meeting.
