FORUM FOR INDIA PACIFIC ISLANDS COOPERATION (FIPIC) - INTERNATIONAL
News:
Biden to host leaders of
Pacific islands to counter China influence
What's
in the news?
●
President Joe Biden will host a second
summit with Pacific Island leaders this week, part of a U.S. charm offensive to
block further Chinese inroads into a strategic region Washington has long
considered its own backyard.
Key
takeaways:
●
During the three-day meeting, the U.S.
will announce diplomatic recognition for two Pacific islands, promise new money
for infrastructure, including to improve Internet connectivity via undersea
cables, and honour regional leaders at an NFL game.
Pacific
Island Nations:
●
Of the 14 PICs, Fiji and Papua New Guinea (PNG) are the ones with the biggest
populations and the most heft.
●
India’s interaction with the PICs has
traditionally focussed on its engagement with Fiji and PNG, mainly due to the
presence of a large diaspora — about 37% of Fiji’s 849,000 population (2009
estimates) is of Indian origin, and about 3,000 Indians live in PNG.
Pacific
Island Group:
Pacific Island Nations
consist of three major groups of islands named as Polynesia, Micronesia and
Melanesia.
●
North of the Equator and east of the
Philippines are the islands of Micronesia.
●
The great arc of islands located north and
east of Australia and south of the Equator is called Melanesia.
●
In the eastern Pacific, largely enclosed
within a huge triangle formed by the Hawaiian Islands to the north, New Zealand
to the southwest, and Easter Island (Rapa Nui) far to the east, are the islands
of Polynesia.
Forum
for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation:
●
The Forum for India-Pacific Islands
Cooperation (FIPIC) was launched during PM Modi’s visit to Fiji in November
2014.
Members:
●
FIPIC includes 14 island countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon
Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu – that are located in the Pacific Ocean, to
the northeast of Australia.
Features:
●
To further enhance people-to-people
contact, the PM announced a Distinguished
Visitors Programme under which eminent persons from these countries can
visit India. India would also welcome the visit of a Parliamentary delegation
from the Pacific Island Countries to India.