We have a lot in common with the nations there
In the course of its second summit, which concluded in Jaipur on Friday, the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation effectively laid the framework that will guide New Delhi's engagement with the region and vice versa in the coming years. Three focus areas have been identified: Climate change, trade, and development aid. In the first case, India hopes to share its knowledge and expertise in mitigation and adaptation solutions, which are high priority areas for the Pacific Island countries. They are the worst affected globally by climate change and its adverse impacts, and can benefit by adopting Indian initiatives and technologies, particularly in the field of renewable energy. India itself has a long coastline and more than a thousand islands, and faces many of the same problems that plague the PICs. The second focus area is trade and investment. Currently, total trade between India and the PICs stands at a minuscule $300 million —and most of this is related to oil and gas imports from Papua New Guinea. New Delhi is hoping to intensify and diversify trade ties to include fishing, mining, information technology, health and agriculture. With regard to developmental assistance, India already provides each of the 14 PICs with $2,00,000 grant-in-aid every year. Additionally, it is also planning to train PIC diplomats and offer assistance under the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme — a huge hit with developing nations for decades. A fourth aspect of cooperation is political support in international forums. Though small in size and population, the PICs are a big regional group, and their endorsement of India's UNSC bid, for example, helps New Delhi put together a stronger case.
In Jaipur, the FIPIC gathering built on the progress made during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's landmark visit to Fiji last year, when the first FIPIC meet was held. The success of this year's edition marks a promising start to a new chapter in India's relations with the 14 PICs of Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. Though there is not much that connects the two in contemporary imagination, India's relations with the PICs go back to the late 1800s, when the British took thousands of Indians as indentured labour to Fiji, where the workers eventually settled and grew to make up for about 40 per cent of the total population. When Fiji became independent in 1970, India set up a diplomatic outpost in Suva, and from there, established formal ties with the other PICs. Yet, despite strong historical linkages, relations have been rather lukewarm, possibly because two oceans and about 4,000 miles separate New Delhi and the nearest Pacific Island country. The situation improved slightly this past decade, with India extending development aid to the PICs, but the overall relationship has remained below potential. Hopefully, that will now turn a corner.