FIPIC Summit in Papua New Guinea

Published: 25th May, 2023

Context

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.

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