Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Papua New Guinea. He is the first ever Indian prime minister to visit Papua New Guinea. During his visit he will hold talks with Papua New Guinea Governor General Sir Bob Dadae and Prime Minister James Marape.

Modi will also host the third summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) on May 22. As India is attempting to increase its outreach to the Pacific Islands, the region remains a fiercely contested entity between China and the West from geopolitical and geoeconomic perspective.

By virtue of geography and being a lesser focused region in its foreign policy, India has shaped its interactions with the Pacific Islands accordingly.

Pacific Islands as a Contested Space

Pacific Islands have been for a long time considered as the United States’ (US) backyard and a region where Australia has wielded hegemonic influence. However, China has been making inroads in the region challenging the US and Australia. China’s engagements with the Pacific Islands started in the economic domain.

China became a dialogue partner of the Pacific Islands Forum in 1989. In 2006 China launched the China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum. Under Xi Jinping’s presidency China has accelerated its engagements with the region with a number of Pacific Island Countries joining the Belt and Road Initiative.

Along with economic engagements China has made incursions in the strategic domain as well seeking cooperation with the Pacific Islands in the areas of policing, security, trade, data network and cyber security. To counter China’s influence Papua New Guinea recently announced that it will sign a security pact with the US. This pact will enable the US’ troops to access the island nation’s port and airports.

However, amid the geopolitical and geoeconomic competition, the region’s concerns, particularly with regard to climate change, remain neglected.

India’s Engagements with the Pacific Islands

India’s engagements with the Pacific Islands have only been gaining momentum in the past one decade. It took 33 years for India to reset its focus on the region when Modi became the first Indian prime minister in 2014 to visit Fiji after Indira Gandhi’s visit in 1981. Apart from addressing the gap in its foreign policy, India’s engagements with Pacific Islands are also a part of manoeuvring through the Indo-Pacific Region.   

Following the reconnect with the region, India established the FIPIC in 2014 along with 14 Pacific Island Countries – Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. The first summit of this grouping was held in Fiji in 2014 while the second summit was held in Jaipur in 2015.  When the FIPIC was launched in 2014, India offered $1 million for adapting climate change and clean energy. Along with the climate change cooperation, India and FIPIC are engaged in several projects like marine biology, research, collaboration on space technology, affordable healthcare and education.   

Apart from the FIPIC, India also engages with the Pacific Islands through Pacific Small Islands Developing States (PSIDS). In 2019, India offered $150 million line of credit to the Pacific Island Countries to undertake solar, renewable energy and climate related projects as per their requirements. India also offered an additional $12 million to the member states of the PSIDS to implement high impact developmental projects of their own choice.

India is also involved in capacity building projects with the Pacific Islands through the Indian Technical & Economic Cooperation (ITEC) Programme. India could further extend the capacity building cooperation by providing training facilities to the civil servants from the FIPIC member countries. It would enable these civil servants to acquire skills to work in a complex and inter-dependent world. Training civil servant would also imply that India is indirectly assisting these countries to strengthen democratic institutions.

Engagements with the Pacific Islands are concomitant to India’s advocacy of the Global South. India has raised concerns that Pacific Islands feel isolated at international forums such as the United Nations. India, as the current president of the G20 could initiate the group’s engagements with the Pacific Islands. India could suggest a separate track for these countries as it would offer the Pacific Islands an opportunity to share their concerns and experiences at a major forum.

India’s relations with the Pacific Islands are in a developing stage. However, India has projected and positioned itself as a country that is willing to share the concerns of this region and to provide assistance to address these concerns. India must build upon the initiatives that it has started to engage with the Pacific Islands. India’s approach towards the Pacific Islands is concomitant to India’s vision of the Indo-Pacific Region which includes cooperation in the areas of climate change and sustainable development.

Modi’s visit to Papua Guinea is an important step towards enhancing India’s outreach in the region. This visit must be followed up by frequent high-level engagements between India and the Pacific Island Countries.