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Indian President Drupadi Murmu
photo: Facebook / Prime Minister Stephen Rabuka
The Fijian government will roll out the red carpet for Indian President Drupadi Murmu who is visiting the country next week.
Murmu will be the first head of state to visit Fiji and will address the Fijian Parliament and hold talks with President William Katoniwere and Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka.
She will also sign an agreement on the proposed site for the construction of a new Indian embassy, cultural centre and staff accommodation and a 100-bed super specialty hospital in the capital, according to the Fijian government.
Rabuka’s office said a committee had been formed to coordinate the visit and ensure every element of the programme was planned and executed to the expected standards.
Fiji and India have a long history of relations that began in 1879 when British colonists brought Indian indentured labourers to the Pacific nation to work on sugar cane plantations.
About 60,000 Indians were brought to Fiji through the indenture system – Some people call it slavery – Between 1879 and 1916.
“After the abolition of the indentured labour system in 1920, some chose to stay in Fiji while others returned to India. Those who stayed now consider Fiji as their home and have contributed immensely to the socio-economic development of modern Fiji,” Katoniwell told the World Hindi Congress in Nadi last year.
Since independence in 1970, racial relations between the two major ethnic groups – the Aboriginal/iTaukei and the Indo-Fijians – have been a major point of conflict.
This led to four coups – led by Rabuka in 1987 – and forced many Indo-Fijians to emigrate to countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
But Indo-Fijians continue to influence the trajectory of Fijian society and today make up more than 34% of the population in a country of less than one million.
Murmu will be the fourth senior Indian official to visit Fiji since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Fiji in 2014.
She will visit the country from August 5 to 7, after which Travel to New Zealand Bilateral meetings were held with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Governor-General Dame Cindy Kirrow from 7 to 9 August.
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