The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was launched during PM Modi's visit to Fiji in November 2014 including 14 island countries.

Recently, a video of Papua New Guinea Minister James Marape bending down to touch Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet has drawn a lot of interest. It happened right after the PM landed in the capital city of Port Moresby for the first visit to the country by an Indian Prime Minister for the Forum for Indo-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit, 2023.

What is FIPIC?

FIPIC includes 14 countries - Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niye and Samoa, and so on and so forth, that are located in the Pacific Ocean, to the northeast of Australia. Many of these islands have Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZs). EEZ is the distance up to which a coastal nation can exercise jurisdiction over the ocean. It generally goes to some 200 nautical miles or more beyond a nation's territorial sea.

India's larger focus is on the Indian Ocean where it has to play a major role in protecting its commercial interests. The FIPIC Initiative shall make an effort to expand India's engagement in the region. It is being said that the developments in the Indo-Pacific region are somewhere closely related to that of China.

Our PM addressed at the FIPIC Summit, 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.' They told leaders of the 14 countries that those they had considered trustworthy didn't come to help them in situations of need.

The Prime Minister was also scheduled to meet the Albanese minister and also had to interact with the Australian CEOs and business leaders.

Based on the data of the past 2 years, the total annual trade between India and Pacific Island countries was good enough while Papua New Guinea is the biggest trade partner in terms of value.

What is the FIPIC Summit?

This was the third summit that was to be held.

FIPIC-I was held in 2014 at Suva, Fiji's capital city. India had announced various development assistance initiatives and other cooperation projects with these countries in multiple arenas.

FIPIC-I was held in 2015 at Jaipur. Again similar initiatives were announced but this was largely a meeting from a diplomatic perspective. Addressed issues of climate change and later a Conference of Parties-21 was held in Paris.

In 2019, the Indo-Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Leaders Meeting was held in New York.

The Indian government has announced huge expenditure in the allocation of a $12 million grant million towards the implementation of high-impact developmental projects in the area of their choice. Renewable energy projects were also announced in tandem.

What happened at the FIPIC Summit 2023?

The 3rd FIPIC Summit was to be held in early 2020 but had to be delayed because of the pandemic. The Prime Minister announced initiatives such as:

• 'Establishment of a super-specialty cardiology hospital in Fiji. The Indian Government shall bear the full cost of this project.'
• Sea ambulances will be provided to all 14 Pacific Island countries.
• The PM has also pledged to provide prosthetic limbs and desalination units for the people of every Pacific Island country.

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• indianexpress.com