India-Fiji Strategic Partnership: Health, Skills, Security, and Development Collaboration
SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
Institutions: Ministry of External Affairs
The official visit of Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka to India yielded a comprehensive set of bilateral agreements and initiatives spanning across areas like health, institutional cooperation, and mobility. One of the agreements included establishing a super-specialty hospital in Fiji. There was an extended agreement under India’s Janaushadhi medicine supply scheme, and a BIS–DNTMS pact on standardization protocols.
The education and skills development sphere likewise benefited from a key MoU between NIELIT and Fiji’s Pacific POLYTECH, focusing on human capacity building and upskilling. Additionally, India extended Indian Grant Assistance via a Quick Impact Project, along with a declaration of intent fostering migration and mobility between the two nations.
Parallely, several infrastructure and diplomatic measures were announced: the Fijian parliamentary delegation and Great Council of Chiefs are set to visit India in 2026, an Indian naval vessel will make a port call in Fiji in 2025, and there will be a new Defence Attaché post at India’s High Commission in Suva.
Further programs across agriculture, healthcare, culture, and trade were unveiled. These include ambulances for Fiji’s military, a Cyber Security Training Cell (CSTC), Fiji’s accession to the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, Indian-trained Hindi-cum-Sanskrit faculty, mobile soil testing labs, agricultural drones, Jaipur Foot camps, specialized medical treatment under “Heal in India”, an Indian cricket coach, ITEC expert deputations, and market access for Indian ghee.
Relevant question for policy stakeholders: How can India’s development partnership with Pacific Island nations like Fiji be leveraged to advance health security, skill development, and strategic cooperation under the framework of South-South Cooperation? What is the relevance of such MoUs vis-a-vis China’s presence in the Pacific?
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https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2160505