Indian PM Modi, US President Biden to meet Pacific Islands leaders in Papua New Guinea
Narendra Modi and Joe Biden
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden will meet the Pacific Islands leaders next month in Papua New Guinea for a “historic future-oriented” meeting, the region’s Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement on Sunday.
“This is a historic first and at the same time a ‘going forward’ futuristic meeting of global superpowers, in the biggest country in the Pacific,” Marape said.
Modi and Biden will stop in Papua New Guinea on the way to Australia for the Quad, which also includes Japan and Australia, on May 24.
It will be the first official visit to Papua New Guinea for both the state leaders. While Modi’s two-day visit to the island country will begin on May 21, Biden will land on May 22.
Both will participate at the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation Summit (India Pacific Summit) on May 22.
The Forum brings together 14 Pacific Islands — Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu with India at the head of state/ government level.
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For the Biden administration, strengthening ties with Papa New Guinea is major key security policy as the island nation is being courted by China, as Marape seeks to boost foreign investment. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the nation in 2018.
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Washington’s renewed efforts to counter Beijing's growing influence in the region stems from the decision taken by Solomon Islands last year to sign a security pact with Beijing.
China and Australia have been major aid and infrastructure donors to Papa New Guinea, according to Reuters news agency.
On the otherhand, Papua New Guinea is negotiating security pacts with the United States and Australia, and Marape has been invited to visit Beijing this year.
"In the Indo-Pacific conversation, PNG and the Pacific cannot be ignored. With our combined forest and sea areas, we have the world's greatest carbon sink, and the biggest sea and air space on earth," Marape said.
Marape said he had invited the US president when they met in Washington last year, and was "very honoured that he has fulfilled his promise to me to visit our country".
(With inputs from agencies)
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