SUVA, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Fiji Prime Minister Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has said Fiji will pull out of regional trade talks, media reports said on Monday.

    Bainimarama was responding to comments by New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully that the New Zealand government was waiting to see what Fiji would decide in relation to the talks on Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER)-Plus and the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA).

    "We will pull out from the talks," the Fijilive news website quoted Bainimarama as saying.

    The Fijian prime minister has threatened to quit PACER-Plus, the proposed agreement on closer regional economic relations after last week's Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Australia decided that negotiations on the agreement would go ahead without Fiji but that it would be briefed later.

    Fiji maintained its role in PACER-Plus and PICTA is separate to its Forum status.

    In a statement released on Friday, Bainimarama had said the Forum had made it impossible for Fiji to effectively defend the interests of its people under the trade agreements Fiji is a party to and had threatened to withdraw.