By REBECCA KUKU
Leaders of the 14 Pacific island nations will meet United States President Joe Biden and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi at different times in Port Moresby, says Prime Minister James Marape.
“There will be no overlap of the two meetings,” Marape said.
“The two meetings will happen in two different time slots – between Indian PM Narendra Modi’s arrival on May 21 and the morning of May 22 for the FIPIC (Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation) meeting, then the US-Pacific meeting will take place,” he said.
The 14 Pacific island nations are Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands (current Pacific Island Forum chair), Kiribati, Marshal Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Palau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Papua New Guinea.
The forum between India and 14 Pacific island countries began in 2014, with India offering assistance to major projects.
They included the setting up of a US$1 million (about K3 million) funding for adapting to climate change and clean energy, establishing a trade office in India, a Pan Pacific Islands e-network to improve digital connectivity, extending visa-on-arrival at Indian airports for the 14 countries, cooperation in space technology applications for improving the quality of life of the islands, and training diplomats from Pacific Island countries.
India also increased the annual grant-in-aid from US$125,000 to US$200,000 to each of the Pacific island countries for community projects of their choice,
The first FIPIC summit was held in Fiji and the second one in Jaipur.
The 14 Pacific leaders will start arriving next week.
Modi will arrive on Sunday, May 21. Biden will arrive on Monday, May 22 and spend around three hours in Port Moresby.
Marape said that both meetings were important to bring countries to work together.
Source: The National PNG
