India News | Relationship Between Fiji and India Strong, Built on Universal Values of Democracy, Human Rights: Fijian Dy-PM

New Delhi, Feb 9 (PTI) Fiji's Deputy Prime Minister Biman Prasad on Thursday said the relationship between his country and India is strong, and is built on universal values of democracy, human rights and media freedom.

He also stressed that India's role in addressing issues of climate change provide confidence for countries facing these challenges.

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Prasad, who is Fiji's minister for finance, strategic planning, national development and statistics, is paying a visit to India from February 5 to 10

"We are part of the Indo-Pacific strategy as it is based on those universal values of democracy, human rights and inclusive development," Prasad told PTI.

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"India is part of the Quad and Pacific countries, particularly Fiji, which has historical connections with all these four countries (Quad members)," he said, adding that these countries are "our natural partners in advancing a bigger agenda for a free Pacific".

The Quad comprises Japan, India, Australia and the US.

Highlighting India's role as a leader in the global south, Prasad said it is "mutually beneficial" for the countries in the Pacific to "develop deeper and meaningful relationships" with India.

"India, of course, is the largest democracy and a very robust democracy. Therefore, it is very natural for Fiji and for its government to be part of the strategy to strengthen democracy and inclusive governance -- free from any threats in relation to security and the rest of it," the Fijian leader said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership has influence around the world and it provides "lots of opportunities for many countries, including those in the Pacific, to work towards developing a much deeper, meaningful relationship with India", Prasad said.

He mentioned that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be visiting Fiji soon and that Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is "eagerly waiting to discuss a number of issues where India and Fiji can work together for mutual benefit".

"India is part of the big Indo-Pacific strategy. Fiji is the part of this strategy whether you look at it from a geopolitical or economic strategy. Fiji is a very important country in the Indo-Pacific region," Prasad underlined.

On the Quad, he said that it is the strategy that is based on "creating productivity, sustainable economic growth, and addressing issues of climate change that are big challenges for us in the Pacific".

"We don't see this as an Asian strategy or American strategy or a Japanese strategy. India and Fiji, for example, have a very very long relationship. So strengthening of some of these relationships are not necessarily compartmentalised or characterised into some kind of strategy," Prasad said.

Prasad met with a number of Indian ministers, including Jaishankar and Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri.

The deputy prime minister said that working with Quad nations "should not concern anyone".

On the China challenge to Pacific nations, the deputy prime minister also said Fiji's prime minister is a seasoned and experienced leader who has been working towards uniting the Pacific countries together.

"Of course there will be challenges to manage other powers trying to get influence in the Pacific region but Pacific leaders are united," he said.

The newly elected government of Fiji scrapped the security arrangement with China. It was believed to be a major setback for Beijing which signed a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year.

"I don't see any inconsistencies. Scrapping of security arrangements with our police force with China is part of the belief and understanding that we can work with our traditional partners because we have been doing this in the past. It is really an effort to consolidate or strengthen those partnerships,” Prasad said.

Fiji will host the World Hindi Conference from February 15-17 and Prasad said the conference is being held in the country at crucial time as growth of the “world's third largest language after English and Mandarin” has slowed down in the last seven to eight years in Fiji.

“Our government has amended the constitution, adding Hindi as the language of the parliament. Now, we can speak in Hindi in our parliament,” Prasad said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)