Assess the role of FIPIC in advancing India's strategic and developmental interests in the Pacific.

The Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) was launched in Suva in November 2014 and brings together India and 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs) [1]. It has given India a steady, institutional presence in a region where it was once barely visible. Its development record is solid, but its strategic reach is still modest.

Advancing strategic interests

• Summit-level platform: FIPIC summits have been held in Suva (2014), Jaipur (2015) and Port Moresby (2023), giving India regular leader-level access. Even small states like Tuvalu have taken part at the head-of-government level [1].
• Soft power at low cost: India gave US$1.9 million for the Tuvalu Convention Centre, built to host the 50th Pacific Islands Forum Summit (2019). This placed India's name inside the region's own institutions [1].
• Indo-Pacific outreach: FIPIC carries Act East into the South Pacific, a region where larger powers are competing for influence. The PICs' 14 UN votes also matter for India's multilateral goals, such as UNSC reform.

Advancing developmental interests

• People-centred aid: FIPIC-III's 12-step plan promised dialysis units and sea ambulances for all 14 PICs, a cardiology hospital in Fiji and Jaipur Foot camps [2].
• Climate solidarity: Sea-level rise threatens atoll states with extinction. Australia's Falepili Union lets 280 Tuvaluans a year move to Australia [3] and recognises that Tuvalu remains a state even if it loses its land [4]. FIPIC lets India present itself as a fellow Global South voice on climate justice.

Limitations

• Irregular meetings: there was an eight-year gap between FIPIC-II and FIPIC-III [1].
• Thin presence: India has few missions in the region. Tuvalu, for example, is covered from the High Commission in Suva [1].
• Small scale: India's grants are tiny compared with the adaptation needs set out in plans like Tuvalu's NAP (2025) [5], and with what Australia offers through binding treaties [4].

FIPIC has clearly advanced India's developmental goodwill and given it a seat in Pacific affairs, but it has not yet built strategic depth. Regular summits, more resident missions, and climate-adaptation partnerships through ISA and CDRI could turn it into a lasting partnership, in line with SDG 13 and 14 and India's vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific.