The 1st Foreign Office Consultations FOC between India and Samoa was held in Apia yesterday. Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs Saurabh Kumar and Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Samoa Ms. Peseta Noumea Simi co-chaired the meeting.

Both sides discussed their wide-ranging bilateral relations including their development partnership covering areas such as health, Information and Communications Technology ICT, Education, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises SME, and capacity building. They also discussed follow-up on Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation FIPIC III Summit, as well as regional and global issues, and cooperation in the framework of the Pacific Islands Forum PIF, Commonwealth, and United Nations. Samoa will host the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting CHOGM on 21st of October next year.

Secretary (East) called on Prime Minister of Samoa Fiame Naomi Mata'afa. He also visited Indian developemental project sites in areas of health and ICT, and interacted with a group of ITEC alumni. Both sides also agreed to hold FOC on a regular basis.