Venkat Raman
Auckland, August 2, 2024
There is considerable excitement in Fiji as the Sitiveni Rabuka’s government and the business sector prepare for the visit of Indian President Droupadi Murmu next week.
Ms Murmu will be the first Indian Head of State to visit this South Pacific country. Two Prime Ministers (Indira Gandhi in 1981 and Narendra Modi in 2014) have thus far been to Fiji while Sir Kamisese Mara visited India in 1971 during his tenure as the Prime Minister of Fiji.
There would be a few significant engagements for Ms Murmu in Suva and other cities during her three-day stay in Fiji. As well as being accorded a special welcome as the Supreme Commander of the Indian Defence Forces, she is likely to be accorded a Special ‘status’ in honour of her visit.
Following a meeting of the State Cabinet on Tuesday (July 30, 2024). Mr Rabuka’s office announced the establishment of an ‘Inter-Agency Coordinating Committee’ in connection with the Presidential visit.
New Chancery and Hospital
“During the visit, Ms Murmu is expected to sign an agreement on the proposed sites for the construction of a new Indian Chancery, Cultural Centre and staff residence, as well as a 100-bed Super Specialty Hospital, in Suva,” the Prime Minister’s office said.
India’s diplomatic mission is currently located in the Life Insurance Corporation of India building in the Central Business District of the Fijian capital but the need for a building within its ‘own sovereign territory’ has been felt for a long time. The Narendra Modi government is keen to further its bilateral relations with the Pacific Island countries partly as a part of its policy of strengthening its ground in the region and partly to counterbalance the increasing influence of China.
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New Delhi has been investing human, financial and other resources in fostering multilateral and bilateral relations with the South Pacific since Mr Modi became the Prime Minister in 2014. There have been visits by many federal ministers over the years, the most significant of which was that of External Affairs Minister Dr Jaishankar Subrahmanyam in February 2023 to inaugurate and participate in the 12th World Hindi Conference hosted by his Ministry.
Although the office of the President in India is largely ceremonial, the importance of the Head of State is never understated. When she was sworn in as the 15th President of the Republic of Inda on June 25, 2022, she brought to the high office valuable experience as a Governor (Jharkhand), Minister (Odisha), a government employee and a teacher.
She is the first person from the tribal community to become the President and the second woman, after Pratibha Patil (2007-2012).
Links and Delinks with Fiji
India’s links with Fiji commenced in 1879 when Indian labourers were brought under the infamous Indenture (Girmit) System to work in sugarcane and other plantations.
Indian Newslink has extensively reported the hardship, discrimination and atrocities suffered by the more than 60,000 Girmityas and their families under this system, which ran from 1879 to 1920. About 20 years later, Indian businessmen and entrepreneurs began to arrive, attracted by commercial prospects.
India established its diplomatic mission with a Consulate Office in 1948 and upgraded to the status of High Commissioner after Fiji gained independence in 1970.
Bilateral relations have not always been rosy and comfortable between the two countries. Mr Rabuka graduated from the Indian Defence College in Wellington, Tamil Nadu, saying that those were among his best years, but during his tenure as the Chief of the Army, he expelled the Indian High Commissioner in 1990, about two years after the first military coup that he had staged. New Delhi decided to close its Mission and the Indian Cultural Centre and it was not until March 1999 that the High Commission was reopened. It took another six years for the Cultural Centre to resume its activities.
Boost after Modi’s visit
The High Commission website says that India-Fiji relations are based on mutual respect, cooperation and strong cultural and people-to-people ties.
“The bilateral relationship received a major boost after the visit of Prime Minister Modi in November 2014, when the First Meeting of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was also held. Over the years, as a major development partner of Fiji, India has been privileged to support Fiji in its nation-building efforts across key sectors and also in the area of capacity building,” it says.
Describing the visit of Mr Modi (November 19, 2014) as ‘a watershed moment not only for India-Fiji relations but also for India’s relations with all the Pacific Island Countries,’ the High Commission said that three Memoranda of Understanding were signed.
These were Extending a Line of Credit for Establishing a Co-Generation Plant in Fiji, Cooperation in the field of training of diplomats, and Earmarking of Land for their Diplomatic Missions in the respective Capitals.
The signing of an agreement during President Murmu’s visit comes within the ambit of that Memorandum of Understanding.
On May 23, 2023, Mr Rabuka conferred the Companion of the Order of Fiji Medal to Mr Modi in Papua New Guinea on the margins of the Third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), The Forum is an initiative of Mr Modi.
