India-Niue: Bilateral Brief

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High Commission of India,
Wellington

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INDIA - NIUE BILATERAL BRIEF

Government of India approved establishment of diplomatic relations with Niue in February 2012 at the request of the Government of Niue. Subsequently, a Joint Communiqué to this effect was signed in August 2012. High Commission of India, Wellington is concurrently accredited to Niue. 

Recent Exchanges:

Voice of Global South Summit (VoGSS)

2. 3rd VoGSS: On 17 August 2024, Niue Minister of Social Services Sonya M Talagi participated in the Health Ministers’ Session of the 3rd Voice of Global South Summit which held virtually. The Session was chaired by Sh. J. P. Nadda, Minister of Health under the theme - An Empowered Global South for a Sustainable Future.

Forum for India-Pacific Island Cooperation (FIPIC)

3. 3rd FIPIC Summit: The 3rd Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation Summit was held in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on May 22, 2023. Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and PM of PNG James Marape, co-hosted the Summit which was attended by leaders of the 14 Pacific Island Countries (PICs). The Niuean delegation, led by the Premier Dalton Tagelagi, attended  the Summit. 

4. 2nd FIPIC Summit - The 2nd Forum for India-Pacific Island Cooperation Summit was held in Jaipur on 21 August 2015. The Prime Minister of Niue, Hon Toke Talagi, led a 5-member delegation to the Summit.

5. 1st FIPIC Summit: Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi hosted the First Summit of Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC-I) in Suva (Fiji) during the visit on 19 November 2014 with the participation of 14 Pacific countries. Prime Minister of Niue Hon Toke Tofukia Talagi attended the Summit. 

6. Sustainable Development Summit: The Premier of Niue Hon Toke Tofukia Talagi, who led a two-member delegation to attend the Sustainable Development Summit held in Suva, Fiji from 25-26 May, 2017. 

7. In keeping with India’s policy to develop closer engagement with the Pacific region, India has been providing annual Grant-in-Aid (GIA) to Niue for its economic development since 2006. In 2009, GOI had increased the GIA amount to US$1,25,000/- from $1,00,000/-. Hon’ble PM Modi announced increasing this grant to US$ 200,000 at the First FIPIC Summit in Fiji in November 2014. Details of projects undertaken with GIAs are given below:  

  1. Grant-in-aid of US$ 100,000 was provided to Niue Government in June 2008 for the following projects:

  • National Road Project

  • Village Upliftment Project

  • Internal Communication Facility.

  1. Grant-in-aid of US $ 100,000 was extended to Government of Niue in June, 2009 for the following three projects:

  • Lialagi Restoration Project (Phase 2)

  • Tamakautoga New Pastor’s Residence Project

  • Sunema Training Centre

  1. Grant-in-aid of US $ 100,000 was released to Government of Niue in January 2011 for the following two projects:

  • Liku Village Pastor’s Housing Project.
  • Re-roofing and renovation of Niue Sports & Recreation and Training Centre.

  1. Grant-in-Aid to the tune of US$ 99,639.32 was sanctioned in February 2013 for funding of the following projects:

  • Renovations of the Niue Youth Centre at a total cost of NZ$ 46,558.36.

  • Up-gradation of the Niue Market Place at a total cost of NZ$ 76,000.

  1. India has provided assistance of USD910,700 equivalent to NZ$1,232,341 to Niue for setting up of a 4-G network project on 27 January 2017, helping Niue to provide 4G coverage to 65% of its population, which was launched on 10.8.18. Proposal for the second phase of providing full 4G coverage including north and north-east areas at a cost of US $ 3,46,085 has been received and is under consideration of MEA.

  1. Two projects such as (i) Sustaining the Economy in Urban Alofi by Boosting retail Resilience and (ii) Village plans for building resilience in village infrastructure using low carbon and sustainable design principles for the safety and wellbeing of communities at a cost of NZ$ 7,10,000/- have in principle approval of MEA. However, details regarding technical specification are awaited from the Niue side to process it further for financial approval. 

8. PM Shri Narendra Modi also announced allocation of US $ 1 million to each PSID towards implementation of a high impact development project in the area of their choice at the India-Pacific Islands Developing States (PSIDS) Meeting on 24 September, 2019 in New York on the side lines of UNGA. However, Niue did not attend the meeting as it is not yet a member of the UN.

Development Initiatives:

9. Niue Centre of Excellence in Information Technology in Alofi, funded by GoI was set up by C-DAC at the University of South Pacific, Alofi, the capital of Niue at  cost of Rs. 2.41 Cr. It became operational in August 2020  with the deployment of personnel from C-DAC. On 15 September 2022, the Centre was transferred to the Government of Niue in a ceremony held at the Taoga Niue Auditorium, Alofi. The Acting Premier of Niue, Honorable Sauni Tongatul, was the Chief Guest at the ceremony in which a total of 22 students were also given certificates for completing courses in various domains. 

10. Consequent to the decisions taken at the first two FIPIC Summits, Government of India has approved grant of gratis e-TV to nationals of 14 Pacific Islands Countries including Niue. Other proposals which are currently being pursued for implementation are: deputation of ITEC experts, setting up of Tele-medicine centre and supply of medicines by Indian Pharma PSUs directly to PICs subject to relaxed regulatory approvals. For the years 2017-18 and 2018-19, five ITEC slots each were allocated to Niue with ‘nil’ utilization. Since the year 2019-20, the allocation has been reduced to two slots, but utilization remains at 'nil.' Despite repeated attempts to improve ITEC slot utilization, Niue, being a very small country with a population of just 1,600 people, has not responded.

Indian community in Niue:

11. Niue is a small country with a population of about 1,500 to 1,600 people. There is one family of Indian origin running an Indian restaurant in Alofi, the capital. In addition to that two Indian workers are employed in the vanilla fields, and one Indian is heading Niue Telecom.

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August 2024

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