The Internet is shocked by a video in which James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, bends down to touch the feet of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The incident took place after the Indian Prime Minister disembarked in Port Moresby for his first visit to the country. The visit is also the first by an Indian prime minister.
The Forum on India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) summit
It was in November 2014, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Fiji and the Forum on India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was inaugurated.
The India-Pacific Cooperation Forum is made up of 14 island nations. These include Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tonga, Tuvalu, Samoa, Palau, Niue, Micronesia, Kiribati and the Cook Islands. They are located northeast of Australia in the Pacific Ocean.
The FIPIC summit, 2023
The islands mentioned above are small in size. Also, they are very far from India. However, most of these island nations have exclusive economic zones.
Exclusive Economic Zones or EEZs are actually the distance up to which a country on the coast has jurisdiction over ocean waters. Both living and non-living resources can be counted in the jurisdiction. Generally, EEZs extend 200 nautical miles beyond a country’s territorial sea.
According to the group’s website, India is primarily focused on the Indian Ocean. Here the country plays an important role and safeguards commercial, strategic and other interests. In this sense, the Forum on India-Pacific Cooperation (FIPIC) is actually expanding India’s engagement in the Pacific areas. After the summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi traveled to Sydney, Australia, for a visit on May 23-24.
At the event, a reference was made to “developments in the Indo-Pacific region.” Additionally, a “vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific” was also discussed.
The Indian Prime Minister also made a statement on Monday at the FIPIC summit saying that “a friend in need is a true friend.” He also told the leaders of the fourteen nations that those they had believed worthy of trust were actually not standing by him in times of crisis. This statement is believed to be a reference to China.
On May 24, 2023, the Indian Prime Minister will meet Prime Minister Albanese. Interactions will also take place with Australian business leaders and CEOs.
As of 2021-22, $570 million is the value of the entire annual trade between India and Pacific island nations. Trade in items such as pharmaceuticals, mineral fuels, sugar, minerals and plastics was considerable. Among these 14 countries, Papua New Guinea is the largest trading partner in terms of value.
The FIPIC Summit – EXPLAINED
FIPIC 2023 was the third summit of its kind held.
It was in 2014 when the first FIPIC summit was held in the capital of Fiji, Suva. At this summit, India declared a host of development assistance initiatives. Many cooperation projects in the fields of trade, climate change, tele-education, telemedicine, IT, economy, etc. were also discussed.
The second such summit, FIPIC-II, was held in Jaipur in the year 2015. In this summit, India declared similar initiatives as the first summit. What was special this time was that India called for an “exclusive seat for small island developing States in an expanded and reformed UN Security Council in both categories.”
In 2019, the India-Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) Leaders Meeting was held in New York on September 24. The meeting was composed of leaders from not 14 but 12 Pacific island nations.
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Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: ptivs2.edu.vn