Baravilala made the comments during his opening remarks here at the AIBA Continental Boxing Forum for Oceania.

Oceania and Asia were grouped together for the Rio 2016 Olympic qualifying event, with Australia the only country in Oceania to manage to send boxers to the Games. 

Three Australian boxers qualified, with Asian athletes claiming the remaining 33 Olympic places.

The two continents have once again been grouped together for Tokyo 2020 qualification, although this event, scheduled for Amman in Jordan from March 3 to 11, has been organised by the International Olympic Committee after AIBA were stripped of Olympic recognition last year. 

"I appeal to AIBA that we need to restore a continental Olympic qualification event, and not be grouped with Asia or any other Continental Federation," Baravilala said. 

"We feel that we are part of the five Olympic rings but I think that over the years, the fifth one, Oceania, has been neglected."

He also requested that the Oceania Boxing Confederation (OCBC) Boxing Championships be held more frequently, in order to aid the development of boxing in the continent. 

The last tournament took place in Gold Coast in 2017. 

"We feel that the OCBC Boxing Championships should be revived, and we should have this annually," Baravilala said.

"For us in the Pacific, there is a big gap between us and Australia and New Zealand.

"We need the tournament to bring us closer together.

"It is not enough for us to go to the Pacific Games, we need something more than that to be able to compete at an Olympic level."

A final proposal put forward by Baravilala was the construction of an Oceania Boxing Centre in Fiji.

"I also want to put an Oceania Boxing Centre to this forum," he said.  

"I propose we have this in Fiji because of our geographical position here in the Pacific.

"I know that 13 out of the 16 member countries have direct flights here, and also we don’t have the issue of a visa.

"I hope this is considered."

Today's meeting is the second AIBA Continental Forum to take place, with the inaugural event held in Panama for the Americas last month. 

The Forums were devised by AIBA Marketing Commission chair Umar Kremlev to create fruitful dialogue between AIBA, Confederations and National Federations after a crisis-riddled year for the organisation.

AIBA was stripped of its Olympic status last June over a number of issues, including governance, finances and refereeing and judging.

The organisation's future remains precarious due to a large amount of debt and uncertain leadership, with Mohamed Moustahsane currently acting as Interim President after the resignation of Uzbekistan's Gafur Rakhimov.