Fiji has decided to open an embassy in Jerusalem, the Pacific country\u2019s Foreign Ministry announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cNecessary risk assessments will be undertaken by the [Ministry of Foreign Affairs] and the Ministry of Defence, in consultation with relevant agencies, prior to and during the establishment process,\u201d wrote the Fijian Foreign Ministry on X.<\/p>\n
Currently, six countries have embassies in Jerusalem \u2014 the US, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay.<\/p>\n
Last week in Munich, Fiji\u2019s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitinevi Rabuka told Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar that he will bring to his government this week his proposal to move the Fijian embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, according to Sa\u2019ar\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
\u201cI commend the Republic of Fiji\u2019s government for its historic decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the Jewish people,\u201d Sa\u2019ar wrote on X.<\/p>\n
In 2023, Rabuka told Israel\u2019s Ambassador Roi Rosenblit: \u201cMy personal feeling is that Jerusalem should be the location of our new Fiji embassy, but I will have to sell this to our coalition partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rabuka came to power in late 2022 as the head of a three-party government that includes the right-wing Christian Sodelpa party, one of whose leader\u2019s demands was that Fiji open an embassy in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n