Wellington, May 31 NZPA - A forum involving leaders from the Pacific region, including Fiji, is meeting in Auckland today to discuss progress on democratic governance in Fiji.

The meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum's ministerial contact group will include Fiji's interim Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, after an ongoing ban against officials from the interim Fijian government travelling to New Zealand was waived.

The ban was in place as Pacific nations pressure Fiji to return to democratically elected governance.

A spokesman from Foreign Minister Murray McCully's office said the government had discretion to waive the visiting ban and in this case it was considered the presence of the interim minister would be of value to the meeting and its intent.

The meeting will include ministers and from Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Tuvalu, Fiji and Papua New Guinea, and is being chaired by Tongan Prime Minister Feleti V Sevele.

Mr Sevele invited the Fiji government, with the agreement of other ministers, to send a ministerial representative to give an update and a briefing on the Fijian governance situation and that nation's path back to full democracy.