FIPIC: India's Forum for Pacific Islands Cooperation
Why in news: On 16 October 2026, India's MoS for External Affairs and Samoa's Prime Minister signed an MoU for the SENESE Project under India's Grant-in-Aid scheme.
The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) is India's summit-level grouping with 14 Pacific Island countries. It was inaugurated at Suva, Fiji, in November 2014. Its summits of 2014, 2015 and 2023 pledged grants, training, health care and solar projects. In October 2026, India's Minister of State for External Affairs signed a Grant-in-Aid MoU in Samoa for the SENESE Project.
Syllabus: Prelims · Current Affairs & IR; GS1 · Geophysical Phenomena; GS2 · Groupings & Agreements
Why this matters for UPSC
FIPIC serves GS2 international relations: India's groupings and development partnerships. Prelims can ask its members, summit venues and tools such as ITEC; GS1 Mains 2025 asked how sea-level rise threatens island nations.
In short
The Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) is India's summit-level grouping with 14 Pacific Island countries, built on demand-driven grants, training and projects across a vast ocean.
FIPIC has given India a regular voice among 14 island states; its credibility now rests on delivering promised health and climate projects on time.
Why it matters
For a patient in Nauru or a student in Samoa, FIPIC means concrete things: a dialysis unit at the hospital, a sea ambulance between islands, or a training course in India. For India, such small and low-cost projects build goodwill among island states spread across a vast ocean; some, such as Nauru and Samoa, have backed Indian candidates in international bodies. The islands count climate change as a major concern, so solar power and clean water matter more to them than large loans. The larger question is whether a country can keep influence in a region far from home through steady, demand-driven partnership instead of large aid budgets.
Prelims pointers
- FIPIC's 14 members: Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.
- UNCLOS Article 57: an exclusive economic zone cannot extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines; Article 58 keeps other States' freedoms of navigation and overflight there.
- International Solar Alliance: a joint initiative of India and France; Fiji and Nauru are founding members; its Founding Conference met in New Delhi on 11 March 2018.
- Nauru: once a major phosphate supplier to India; about 80% of its phosphate has been mined, so only secondary mining remains possible, per MEA.
- India-Nauru Joint Working Group on phosphate exploration: India's Department of Fertilizers (Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers) with RONPHOS; first met virtually on 14 June 2023.
- Fiji: Indian indentured labourers came from 1879 for sugar-cane plantations; indenture was abolished in 1920; Indian-origin people are about a third of the population (2017 census).
Practise a UPSC-style question
With reference to the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), consider the following statements:
1. Its first summit was held in Fiji during the Indian Prime Minister's visit to that country.
2. Its third summit was held in Port Moresby and was co-hosted by India and Australia.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a) 1 only
- (b) 2 only
- (c) Both 1 and 2
- (d) Neither 1 nor 2
Show the answer
Answer: (a) 1 only
Answer: (a) 1 only. FIPIC began at Suva, Fiji; the third summit was co-hosted with Papua New Guinea, not Australia.
Statement 1: correct. The first FIPIC summit met at Suva, Fiji, on 19 November 2014, during the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Fiji.
Statement 2: incorrect. The third summit met at Port Moresby in 2023, co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of India and Papua New Guinea; Australia is not among FIPIC's 14 members.
Eliminate: Statement 2 names the wrong co-host, since Port Moresby is the capital of Papua New Guinea. Out: (b), (c).
Eliminate: Statement 1 is right, since Suva is in Fiji. Out: (d).
Trap: Swapped attribution. The host city is right, but the co-host is switched to a larger neighbour in the region.
Remember: FIPIC summits: Suva 2014, Jaipur 2015, Port Moresby 2023 (with Papua New Guinea).
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