Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with leers of Pacific Island countries on sidelines of 74th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session on Wednesday and demonstrated India's commitment to vancing ir development priorities, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said. This was first time Prime Minister met leers of Pacific Islands Developing States (PSIDS) in a plurilateral format, it ded.

PM Modi meets leers from Pacific Islands

A release issued by MEA said meeting was attended by hes of delegations of Fiji, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Nauru, Republic of Palau, Independent State of Papua New Guinea, Independent State of Samoa, Solomon Islands, Kingdom of Tonga, Tuvalu and Republic of Vanuatu. leers deliberated on a wide range of issues, including sharing of development experiences for attainment of sustainable development goals (SDGs), enhancing cooperation in renewable energy, joining newly-launched Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, capacity building, implementation of projects under India-UN Development Partnership Fund and a romap for future India-PSIDS cooperation, it ded.

"India's relationship with Pacific Island nations has deepened with evolution of Act East Policy, resulting in setting up of action-oriented Forum for India-Pacific Island Cooperation (FIPIC)," release said.

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During first and second editions of FIPIC summits in Fiji (2015) and Jaipur (2016), PM Modi h articulated India's desire to be a close partner of Pacific Island nations and its reiness to work closely to vance ir developmental nda, it ded. During Wednesday's meeting, prime minister emphasised that India and PSIDS h shared values and a shared future, and highlighted need for development policies to be inclusive and sustainable to reduce inequality and contribute to empowerment and improvement of quality of people's lives, according to release. He said India was equally committed to tackling impact of climate change and supported efforts of PSIDS to achieve ir developmental goals through necessary developmental and technical assistance. Modi underlined reality of climate change and called for increasing share of renewable energy in total energy mix to mitigate many verse effects of climate change, release said.

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Expressing India's reiness to share its experiences in developing alternate energy, he voiced satisfaction as many countries from region h joined International Solar Alliance and invited ors to join this initiative. Prime Minister also invited leers of PSIDS to join Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

"In spirit of his fundamental Mantra 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas aur Sabka Vishwas' (toger with all, for development of all and with trust of all) PM Modi anunced allocation of USD 12 million grant (USD 1 million to each PSIDS) towards implementation of high impact developmental project in area of ir choice. In dition, a concessional Line of Credit of USD 150 Million which can be availed by PSIDS for undertaking solar, renewable energy and climate-related projects based on each country's requirement was anunced," release said.

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Reaffirming his commitment to providing developmental assistance for capacity building, Prime Minister proposed to depute technical experts to provide training and offered to organise specialised courses also under ITEC programme in priority areas identified by partner countries, including training of diplomats from Pacific Island nations at Foreign Service Institute, it ded. In health sector, Modi offered to organise a Jaipur Foot Artificial Limb Fitment Camp in a Pacific regional hub under "India for Humanity" programme. "To furr enhance people-to-people contact, PM anunced a Distinguished Visitors Programme under which eminent persons from se countries can visit India.

India would also welcome visit of a Parliamentarian delegation from PICs to India. "To continue High-Level engment, PM extended an invitation to all leers for 3rd FIPIC Summit to be held in Port Moresby in first half of 2020," release issued by MEA said. It ded that leers of PSIDS welcomed initiatives proposed by prime minister to strengn engment and cooperation between two sides and reassured full support from ir respective governments.

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