CANBERRA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare is expected to receive the new Australian High Commissioner Peter Hooton on Monday.

    Hooton will formally present his credentials to the prime minister during the meeting, Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) reported.

    Hooton arrived in the Pacific country in early January, but has not been received by the prime minister amid ongoing diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

    Sogavare has told SIBC he has nothing personal against Hooton, and looks on Australia as a close ally and friend of Solomon Islands.

    The diplomatic tensions began late last year when the Solomon Islands expelled the former Australian high commissioner after accusing him meddling in the Pacific country's internal affairs. Australia has accused Sogavare of deliberately delaying receiving the Australian new high commissioner.

    The two countries have also been in a row over the issue of Julian Moti, an Australian citizen whom Sogavare appointed as the country's attorney general late last year.

    But Australia seeks the extradition of Moti to face child sex charges involving a 13-year-old girl in Vanuatu in 1997.