Fiji has expressed its readiness to hold talks with Tonga on the saga surrounding the ownership of Minerva Reef, local newspaper Fiji Times reported here Tuesday on its website.
Fiji's Deputy Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs Sila Balawa was quoted as saying that though we maintain that Minerva Reef is always a part of Fiji and now we have a counter claim from Tonga for the reef, "we are open to dialogue with Tonga on the Minerva Reef issue".
Balawa said "since Tonga is very close to Fiji and we have links, we can sit with them and talk," adding Fiji would sit with Tonga as friends and talk in an attempt to find an amicable solution to the problem.
Minerva Reef, or Ongo Teleki in Tongan, is a group of two submerged atolls located 500 kilometers southeast of Tonga and 520 kilometers south of Fiji.
On Feb. 24, 1972, Tonga laid claims to the Minerva Reef and the move was recognized by the South Pacific Forum later that year.
But Fiji had made it clear that under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), it does not recognize any maritime water claims by Tonga to the Minerva Reef.
The UNCLOS recognizes that Minerva Reef is inside Fiji's Exclusive Economic Zone, according to Balawa.