High Commission of India
Suva
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India-Kiribati Bilateral Relations
India’s relations with Kiribati are cordial and cooperative. The concurrent accreditation of Kiribati was transferred to High Commission of India, Suva in October 2011. Prior to that High Commission in Wellington was concurrently accredited to Kiribati from September 1992.
The Forum for India-Pacific Island Countries Summit (FIPIC-I): Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi hosted the First Summit of Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC-I) in Suva (Fiji) during his visit on 19 November 2014 with the participation of 14 Pacific countries. Kiribati delegation was led by President Anote Tong.
The Forum for India-Pacific Island Countries Summit (FIPIC-II): A Kiribati delegation led by Teekoa luta, Advisor on Asia, visited India to attend 2nd Summit of Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC-II), held at Jaipur on 21 August 2015.
India-Pacific Islands Sustainable Development Conference (IPI-SDC): Under the umbrella of FIPIC, Government of India organized the India-Pacific Islands Sustainable Development Conference (IPI-SDC), which was held at Suva, Fiji on 25-26 May 2017. Minister of State for External Affairs Gen. (Dr.) V.K. Singh (Retd.) hosted the event. The Conference saw the participation of several high-profile leaders from the 14 Pacific Island Nations. Hon. Tekena Tiroa, Member of Parliament led the Kiribati delegation. Prasar Bharati of India also gifted programmatic content on India for telecast to all the Pacific Island Countries.
Visits
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Natan Teewe, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Government of Kiribati accompanied by Mr. Terieata Mwemwenikeaki, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration attended the Ministerial Meeting on “Harnessing the positive contribution of South-South Cooperation for Development of Least Developed Countries” in New Delhi in February 2011.
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President Anote Tong again visited New Delhi on 31 January-2 February 2013 to attend the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) organised by TERI.
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A Kiribati delegation led by H.E. Mr. Teima Onorio, Vice President visited India in connection with the Second High Level Meeting (HLM) on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia and the Pacific, held in New Delhi on 23-25 October 2013.
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A Kiribati delegation led by Kobebe Taitai, Minister of Health and medical Services, accompanied by Dr Teatao Tira, Secretary, Ms Ioana Taakau, Chief Pharmacist and Ms Lina Nikuata, Senior Accountant visited India from 25th October to 2nd November 2016 to see medical facilities.
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Mrs Matereta Birita Raiman, Auditor General and Mrs Ruti Berenato Executive Assistant from Kiribati National Audit Office attended 23rd Commonwealth Auditor General’s Conference, held in New Delhi from 21-23 March 2017.
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Hon. Ruateki Tekaiara, Minister for Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy visited New Delhi in October 2017 to sign the framework agreement of the ISA and had also attended the Founding Conference of ISA at New Delhi on 11 March 2018. He also attended the 2nd General Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) at New Delhi in October 2019.
Multilateral Cooperation: Kiribati has supported our various candidatures:
i. Indian candidature of Dr Neeru Chadha to International Tribunal for the Law of the Seas (ITLOS) in June 2017
ii. The re-election of Dr Dalveer Bhandari for International Court of Justice (ICJ) in November 2017.
iii. Indian Candidature to International Maritime Organization (IMO) in November 2017.
iv. India's Cadidature to Non-permanent seat of UNSC in June 2020.
v. India’s candidature to Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) for 2021-2023 in November 2020.
vi. Election for the International Law Commission (ILC) for the term 2023-27 held on 12 November 2021 in New York for India’s candidate Professor Dr. Bimal Prasad
vii. Election for the post of Vice-president /delegate for Asia in the executive committee of the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO-INTERPOL) for India’s candidature of Mr. Parveen Sinha, Additional Director, CBI held in Istanbul, Turkey from 23-25 November 2021
International Solar Alliance: This is a Government of India initiative along with France, in which there are 121 member countries. Kiribati has signed the Framework Agreement of ISA. Mr. Ruateki Tekaiara, Minister of Infrastructure and Sustainable Development of Kiribati signed the framework agreement of the ISA at New Delhi in October 2017. The Kiribati Government has ratified the Amendments to the ISA Framework Agreement on 20 December 2020.
Hon. Ruateki Tekaiara, Minister for Infrastructure and Sustainable Energy from Kiribati attended the 2nd General Assembly and the Founding Conference of International Solar Alliance (ISA) at New Delhi on 31 October 2019 and 11 March 2018 respectively.
Climate Change: India is not only paying close attention to the call for action on climate change but also taking every possible step to fight Climate Change and enhance resilience of Pacific Island nations in the region to better deal with the effects of Climate Change.
Solar Energy Cooperation: India has undertaken solar electrification of 200 houses in Kiribati. Refresher training for 43 solar mamas from seven Pacific Island Countries was completed successfully in Fiji on 10 September 2016, as a part of US$ 1.5mn GOI project of ‘solar electrification of 2800 houses in 14 PICs’. Five Kiribati solar mamas have been completed six-months long training in India since 2012.
GOI Assistance
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2009-2010: In June, 2009 India provided grant-in-aid to the Government of Kiribati to fund the purchase of a 500 KW generator and overhead cables to replace old generators in the Kirimati Island - US$253,794/-.
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2012-2013: Towards purchase of cherry picker truck – US$25,135/-.
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Renovation of three medical clinics – US$134,502/-.
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2021-22: Responding to the appeal of the Government of Kiribati seeking offers of support to assist in its national efforts to manage the first Covid-19 outbreak in the Pacific Island country, the Government of India sent medical supplies which includs Pulse Oximeters, Swabs with VTM, Specimen bags for swabs, PPE kits (Surgical masks, Gloves, N95 masks, Shoe covers, Hair caps) and emergency Covid-19 medication supplies.
ITEC: A few Kiribati nationals have been trained in India under the ITEC programme. Five slots were utilised by Kiribati for training courses under the ITEC programme in 2011-12 and four in 2012-13. Six slots were offered to Kiribati for 2014-15. Out of ten slots offered to Kiribati for 2015-16, four were utilised. 8 out of 10 training slots were utilized in 2016-17. All 20 slots were utilized in 2017-18. 20 slots were offered in 2018-19 and 3 slots was utilized. All three slots were utilized in 2019-20. All Three slots were unutilized in 2020-21, owing to the prevailing Covid situation.
In the year 2018-19 and 2019-20, 7 candidates have been trained uner ITEC programme in the course of Solar Energy for Master Trainers from ISA member countries.
Two diplomats from Kiribati attended the training for diplomats of Pacific Island countries organised by the Foreign Service Institute in Nadi, Fiji in May 2015. Mrs Kaee Itaaka Mackenzie Assistant Protocol Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs attended 63rd Professional Course for Foreign Diplomats (PCFD) held at Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi from 29 March 2017 to 28 April 2017.
Culture: Under ‘Namaste Pacifika’, a Festival of India, Ms. Meera Das Group did performance in Kiribati on 11 November 2017, which was enjoyed by more than 2000 strong crowd.
IDY 2019: Fifth International Day of Yoga was celebrated in Kiribati on 19 June 2019. Due to the Covid situation in 2020, as directed by the Ministry, the local authorities were informed to celebrate the IDY virtually and a blogging contest was arranged.
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June 2022
