India-Pacific Islands Sustainable Development Conference
The India-Pacific Islands Sustainable Development Conference, themed 'Furthering the FIPIC Agenda through Sustainable Initiatives' was hosted by the Ministry of External Affairs, India with TERI as its key knowledge partner. The Conference was held at the Grand Pacific Hotel, Suva, Fiji from May 25th to 26th, 2017.
The Conference was inaugurated by the Acting Prime Minister of Fiji, Mr Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum. The Prime Minister of India, Mr Narendra Modi, in his message expressed hope that the Conference would enable a better understanding of solutions to the challenges faced by the region, as well as of the opportunities that present themselves. The Conference was held under the framework of the Forum for India Pacific Islands Co-operation (FIPIC). Other key partners at the Conference include National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).
While welcoming the high-profile delegations from 14 Pacific Island countries, the Minister of State for External Affairs, Gen (Dr) V K Singh (Retd) reaffirmed India's commitment to strengthen and take forward its partnership with the Pacific Island Nations to take concrete actions to create a sustainable world. He also announced that India would contribute US$ 1 million to Fiji's Trust Fund for their Presidency of COP-23 to be held in November 2017.
The two days Conference focused on issues such as the blue economy, adaptation- mitigation practices for climate change, disaster preparedness, health, the International Solar Alliance as well as finding practical solutions to Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) implementation.
India also signed several Memoranda of Understanding with Pacific Island Nations to deepen co-operation across a variety of fields. These include MoUs for setting up of Centres of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) with Fiji, Cook Islands, Nauru, Samoa and Niue. India and Fiji also signed three MOUs for ‘Co-operation in Youth Development’, ‘Cooperation between Broadcasting Agencies’, ‘Cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy’. Prasar Bharti of India also gifted programmatic content on India for telecast to all the Pacific Island Countries.
The Conference witnessed participation of around 60 international speakers and more than 500 delegates from the government, multi and bi-lateral institutions, academia and corporate organisations.