India and the Pacific
ON the occasion of the 75th Republic Day of India, I extend my warm greetings to all fellow citizens and friends of India in Fiji and the three Pacific Island countries - Kiribati, Tonga and Tuvalu, concurrently accredited to this Mission.
It was on January 26, in the year 1950 that the Constitution of India came into effect, marking the transition of India into an independent Republic, with the ultimate sovereignty vested in the hands of the citizens of India.
On Republic Day, flag unfurling ceremonies and parades by Servicemen, Uniformed personnel and Students are held in different parts of our country.
The grandest and most important of these parades is held at the Kartavya Path in New Delhi, which showcases the country's rich cultural heritage and military prowess.
On this Republic Day, just as in the last two years, 10 Fijian youths, along with two supervisors will also be joining the Republic Day Camp in New Delhi, under the Youth Exchange Programme sponsored by the Government of India.
As we celebrate the first Republic Day in the Amrit Kaal, it is also time to look at some of our achievements in the last one year and the path breaking measures being undertaken to create a fully developed and self reliant Viksit Bharat by year 2047.
Highlights of the year include the passage of 'Nari Shakti Vandan Act' (women's reservation law), India becoming the world's fifth largest economy, the historic success of the G20 New Delhi Summit, the Chandrayaan-3 mission's historic landing in the south pole of the Moon, winning the Oscars honours for NatuNatu
song (RRR) and The Elephant Whisperers, and the rich medals haul in Asian Games and Asian Para Games.
On the economic side, continuing our position as the fastest growing large economy in the world, Indian economy is poised to cross the $US5 trillion ($F11.3 trillion) mark by 2025. To power our economic progress, a number of major initiatives including liberalizsation of FDI, expansion of Production Linked Incentive Schemes under Make-in-India program, reforms in education, labor, banking and financial sector have been introduced, with remarkable success. In Parallel, the massive emphasis on leveraging digital technology for enhancing delivery of public services has helped transform the landscape of the nation. Thanks to all the Rashtra Pratham- Nation First initiatives, in the last decade alone, more than 130 million people in the country have been lifted above the poverty line, the national per capita income had doubled and the unicorn startups had multiplied manifold.
On the global stage, the highlight of 2023 was the historic New Delhi G-20 Leaders Summit in September 2023.
The inclusive, decisive, ambitious and action-oriented Indian Presidency of G-20 under the theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ delivered a number of major outcomes for the world including the Green Development Pact, Action Plan on Sustainable Development Goals, High level principles on Anti Corruption, Support for Digital Public Infrastructure and Reform of Multilateral Development Banks.
Landmark initiatives launched at the New Delhi Summit included the Global Biofuel Alliance and the IndiaMiddle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
The New Delhi Declaration showed that our Presidency was able to table ideas, shape global issues, bridge divides and forge consensus.
All through the Presidency, a strong focus was kept on the Global South. The two Voice of the Global South Summits in January and November 2023 before and after the New Delhi Summit saw the participation of more than 125 countries from the Global South including Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and Tuvalu from the Pacific region.
During the Indian Presidency, more than 100,000 delegates from around the world participated in 200 plus meetings held in 60 Indian cities, making it the most participative Presidency in the history of G-20.
The high profile events also helped showcase our civilizational heritage along with our contemporary achievements.
India-Fiji
2023 was also a momentous year for the India-Fiji relationship. During the year, our close and multifaceted bilateral relations with Fiji received a strong momentum and direction from the unprecedented number of high level engagements. Starting from the back to back visits of Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji Prof. Biman Prasad and the first ever visit of External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S. Jaishankar to Fiji during the 12th World Hindi Conference in February 2023 to the visit of Minister of State (External Affairs) Shri Rajkumar Ranjan Singh to Fiji in May 2023 as the Guest of Honor for the Official Girmit Day celebrations and up to the recent visit of Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji Viliame Gavoka to India in January 2024, more than 10 Ministerial visits have taken place both ways in less than a year.
The high point in our bilateral engagement was the historic meeting of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi with the Fijian Prime Minister His Excellency Sitiveni Rabuka in Papua New Guinea on 22 May 2023 during the 3rd Summit of Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III). The first meeting of the top leadership between the two countries in almost five years gave a major push to advance our ambitious partnership for progress. In a remarkable gesture symbolizing the deep friendship between the two countries, Fijian Prime Minister Rabuka conferred on Prime Minister Modi, the highest Civilian Honor of Fiji, the Companion of the Order of Fiji (CF) during the meeting in Port Moresby.
On the development partnership, a number of high impact community oriented projects were launched as per the priorities of the Fijian Government. Recent initiatives include the gifting of two mobile Soil Testing Laboratories to Ministry of Agriculture (Fiji) and the supply of life saving anti-retroviral drugs for HIV patients. To support efforts aimed at building climate resilience, the expanded Parametric Micro insurance project was launched in Fiji in October 2023 with funding from India-UN Development Partnership Fund. The project will provide critical insurance cover to more than 5000 most vulnerable households across Fiji.
To promote usage of clean renewable energy, photo voltaic systems were installed at the State House in Suva and also at the Great Council of Chiefs hall and residence of the high chief in the chiefly island of Bau under the Solarisation of Head of State Residence Project with funding from the India-UN Fund during the year.
Considering the critical importance of human resources for a country's development, the capacity building assistance to Fiji and also the other three countries in the jurisdiction was doubled during the year. Human resource development and training under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee General Scholarship Scheme (ICCR) and the Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program continued to help build a vast reservoir of skilled manpower in the pacific region.
Our ties with Fiji, which started with the sugarcane sector, literally soared to the skies during the year, with our partnership for the Aditya L1 mission of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
The historic mission in September 2023 to place the first Indian space based solar observatory was supported by the Temporary Telemetry and Tracking and Command Centre (TTC) in Suva, set up with the help of the Fijian Government. To celebrate our special friendship with Fiji and to mark the 75 years (1948-2023) of India's Diplomatic presence in Fiji, the High Commission of India launched the "Maitri ka Amrit Mahotsav" (MKAM), a special campaign in October 2023. A series of events covering all major segments of our relationship including culture, commerce, Agriculture, technology, development partnership and capacity building are being organized around Fiji under this friendship festival and would continue up to October 2024.
India- Pacific
At the historic third summit of Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC III) in May 2023 in Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), a comprehensive 12-step action plan was announced by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to further strengthen India's engagement with the Pacific region.
Region wide initiatives include the building of a 100-bed Regional Super Specialty Hospital in Fiji, the setting up of a Regional IT and Cyber Security Training Hub in Papua New Guinea and the Sagar Amrut Scholarships programme with 1000 scholarships over the next five years.
Among other announcements include the SME development project, Solar project to power government buildings, provision of desalination units to address drinking water needs, supply of sea ambulances, setting up dialysis units, setting up an emergency helpline number, establishment of Jan Aushadi Kendras (generic medicine centres) and setting up of yoga centres in all the FIPIC member countries.
The above assistance covering major priority areas of the Pacific island countries, in addition to a number of ongoing projects is expected to significantly help meet the development aspirations of the region.
Even as India takes great pride in its own achievements, it also celebrates equally the incredible development journey and inspiring successes of Fiji and our other pacific friends against all challenges.
While we take just satisfaction at our progress together so far, we also strongly believe that the best is yet to come in our partnership for progress and prosperity. As we move forward, I am confident that together we can realize the full potential of our relationship for the mutual benefit of the people of both our countries.
On this happy occasion, I convey my greetings to the governments and the friendly people of Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga and Tuvalu and wish them the very best in all their future endeavors.