Fiji and the Republic of Ecuador has formalized diplomatic relations, the Fijian government announced Friday.

At a ceremony at the Ecuador Mission to the United Nations in New York, the United States earlier this week, the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations, Ambassador Xavier Mendoza and his Fijian counterpart, Ambassador Peter Thomson, signed a joint communique establishing diplomatic relations between the two developing nations, Fiji's Ministry of Information said in a statement.

The communique expresses the desire of Fiji and Ecuador to establish their diplomatic relations at ambassadorial level in accordance with the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and in conformity with the United Nations Charter and international law, said the statement, adding the communique calls for the promotion of mutual understanding and the strengthening of friendship and cooperation among the peoples of the two republics.

Following the formalization ceremony, Ambassador Mendoza and Ambassador Thomson held talks on areas of common interest between their two countries, including the forthcoming deliberations of the UN's Special Committee on Decolonization, of which Ecuador is the chair and Fiji is a long-standing member.

Discussions also covered the upcoming negotiations, under Fiji's Chairmanship, of the Group of 77's position on the follow-up agenda for Post-Rio+20 Conference.