YAREN, 25 JANUARY 2018 (RNZ PACIFIC) — The Pacific Islands Forum says journalists covering this year’s leaders’ meeting in Nauru will not have to pay a costly visa application fee.
The Nauru government introduced three years ago a US$6400 non-refundable fee for foreign journalists wanting to cover the forum.
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The Forum’s deputy secretary general Cristelle Pratt said the Secretariat had been assured by the Nauru Government that accredited media would be exempted from the usual levy.
“Those media that are accredited to observe and report on the Pacific Islands Forum will have their visa fees waived,” she said.
Only two Australian journalists have visited Nauru since the introduction of the fee which has effectively precluded foreign media from visiting.
The fee was introduced amid heightened international scrutiny of Australia’s asylum seeker camps in Nauru. (TONGA – COURT: NZ HERALD/PACNEWS) [/restrict]