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High Commission of India,

Wellington, New Zealand

INDIA - NIUE: BILATERAL BRIEF

After Niue expressed the desire to establish diplomatic relations with India in February, 2012, the same were established with signing of a Joint Communiqué to this effect on 30 August 2012. High Commission of India, Wellington is concurrently accredited to Niue.

2. 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:

(i) 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.

(ii) 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

(iii) 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.

(iv) 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.

(v) 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. 3. PM Shri 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.

Recent Bilateral Interactions:

4. 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.

5. FIPIC Summits: Prime Minister of Niue Hon Toke Tofukia Talagi attended the Pacific Leaders’ Summit convened by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India at Suva, Fiji on 19th November 2014. The Prime Minister of Niue, Hon Toke Talagi, led a 5-member delegation to the 2nd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC), held at Jaipur on August 21, 2015. One journalist from Niue visited India from August 17-24, 2015, as part of the familiarization trip organized by XP Division, MEA, during the 2nd FIPIC Summit.

Development Initiatives:

6. Centre of Excellence in Information Technology (CEIT) in Niue became operational: The Centre for Excellence in Information Technology funded by MEA and set up by C-DAC at the University of South Pacific, Alofi, the capital of Niue became operational in August 2020 with the deployment of personnel from C-DAC.

7. Consequent to the decisions taken at the 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. For the year 2019-20, 2 slots have been allocated and no slot was utlised. Niue being a very small country with just 1600 people, has not responded to our repeated attempt to improve ITEC seats utilization.

Indian community in Niue:

8. Niue is a small country of about 1600 people and there is one family of Indian origin running an Indian restaurant in Alofi, the capital.

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(August 2021)