FIPIC Summit in Papua New Guinea

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

Key highlights:

• The third forum for India-Pacific islands co-operation (FIPIC Summit), which was held recently at Port Moresby was jointly hosted with Papua New Guinea.
• India’s engagement with the 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) is part of New Delhi's Act East Policy.
• 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.
  

About FIPIC:

• Forum for India-Pacific Island 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.