EAM Jaishankar greets people of Solomon Islands on their national day

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday greeted Foreign Minister of Solomon Islands Jeremiah Manele and people of the country on their National Day.

"Greetings to FM Jeremiah Manele and the Government and the people of Solomon Islands on their National Day," Jaishankar tweeted.

Last month, Jaishankar met his counterpart Jeremiah Manele at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) meeting in Rwanda's Kigali and discussed cooperation between the two countries in key sectors.

Notably, Jaishankar was on a visit to Kigali, Rwanda to attend the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) from June 22-25.

"Met FM Jeremiah Manele of Solomon Islands at @CHOGM2022. Discussed cooperation in energy, IT, and agriculture," he had said.

Solomon Islands, a small country in South Pacific, gained independence in 1978. India established diplomatic relations in May 1987. The High Commission in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, is concurrently accredited to the Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands has an Honorary Consulate in New Delhi since 2003.

Assistance to Solomon Islands for the procurement of medical equipment and supplies, as well as for strengthening health systems in response to COVID, was provided by India through the India - United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Fund.

Under the initiative of 'Vaccine Maitri', India sent 132,000 doses and 24,000 doses through the Covax facility to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands respectively.

India and Solomon Islands are working closely supporting each other in international fora including at Commonwealth, Non-Aligned Movement and United Nations. An MoU for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence in IT (CEIT) in Honiara was signed in 2020. Under a grant-in-aid of USD 1 million under the India-UN Development Partnership Fund to the Solomon Islands to support Solomon Islands in its fight against COVID, a consignment containing Indian medicines and medical equipment was sent in October 2021.