Shanmugam Ias Academy

Context

Recently, Prime minister of India meets with Pacific Island nation leaders on sidelines of FIPIC Summit in Papua New Guinea.

Why in News?

The third forum for India-Pacific islands co-operation (FIPIC Summit), which was held today at Port Moresby was jointly hosted with Papua New Guinea.
Prime minister of India co- chaired the summit with PM of Papua New Guinea.
The discussions encompassed various areas of cooperation, including commerce, technology, healthcare, and climate change.

Key highlights of the third summit of FIPIC

Highlighting the importance of the Pacific Islands nations, the Prime Minister of India noted that small island nations of the Pacific Ocean are in fact “large ocean states”.
The PM further highlighted the importance of a free and open Indo-Pacific region and also talked about India’s commitment to assisting the development goals of the member countries.
India has in the past supplied some of the most essential items such as vaccines, medicines, wheat and sugar to these nations during the time of crisis.
The PM assured that India would continue to support Pacific island states in every possible way.
The PM also acknowledges that new challenges with respect to supply chains of food, fuel, fertilizer and pharma are emerging in recent times apart from the already existing hurdles such as climate change, natural calamities, poverty and famine.
The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea pointed out that the members of the FIPIC are suffering on account of the high tariff on energy and food which has been a result of recent geopolitical tensions and power struggles between the big nations.
During a special ceremony, the Governor General of Papua New Guinea conferred the Grand Companion of the Order of Logohu (GCL) to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It is the highest civilian award in Papua New Guinea.
On the sidelines of the summit, Prime Minister Modi was also conferred with the Companion of the Order of Fiji, the highest honour of Fiji, by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji.

About FIPIC:

Forum for India-Pacific Islands cooperation (FIPIC) is a multinational grouping for cooperation between India and 14 Pacific Islands nations.
It include 14 islands named- Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
All Head of state/head of government of the above countries met in Suva, Fiji in November 2014 for the first time where the annual summit was conceptualised.
The FIPIC initiative marks a serious effort to expand India's engagement in the Pacific region.
A major part of India's engagement with these countries is through development assistance under South-South Cooperation, mainly in capacity building (training, scholarships, grant-in-aid and loan assistance) and community development projects.
In 2015, FIPIC Trade Office at Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) to promote Trade & Investment opportunities between India & Pacific Island Countries.

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