President Mukherjee meets Fijian counterpart

Tuesday, August 7th 2012, 10:03 AM

New Delhi, Aug 7 — President Pranab Mukherjee Tuesday met his Fijian counterpart Ratu Epeli Nailatikau and called for expansion of trade and investment between the two countries.

The president welcomed Fiji's recent move to join the Non-Aligned Movement and the support it provides India for reforming the United Nations Security Council as well as multilateral financial institutions, said a Rashtrapati Bhavan release.

Nailatikau, on his first visit to India, was stopping over in Delhi on his way back to Fiji from the London Olympics.

Welcoming him, President Mukherjee recollected the close historical relations between the two countries as well as the presence of a large number of persons of Indian origin in Fiji.

He also referred to the assistance being provided by India to that Pacific island-country in agriculture and healthcare sectors as well as in the sugar industry, and cooperation in the field of defence.

He expressed happiness that India's development experience was being shared with Fiji through training slots for its nationals and scholarships for students.

Nailatikau, who is the first foreign head of state to call on the newly-elected president, congratulated him on assuming the high office and invited him to visit Fiji.

He said the Indian Cultural Centre in capital Suva, set up in August 1972, is India's oldest cultural centre in the world and had added tradition and colour to the fabric of Fijian society.

IANS