India plans e-network for small Pacific island states

NEW DELHI - With UN reforms inching back on the global agenda and keeping climate change negotiations in mind, India is now wooing Pacific small island states with an e-network, on the lines it created in Africa, to bring them triple benefits of tele-education, governance and medicine.

Although the proposal has come from UN permanent representatives of six Pacific island nations who are currently visiting India, New Delhi is ready to go the extra mile to create the Pacific e-network for these low-lying coastal countries.

The envoys of the six countries - Solomon Islands, Palau, Nauru, Tuvalu, Micronesia and Vanuatu - visited the Telecommunications Consultants India Limited (TCIL) facility here this week.

Impressed by the Pan-Africa e-network executed by the TCIL, they now want India to replicate the model for their countries to bring them the triple advantages of long-distance education, medical advice and governance.

The e-network shows the power of technology to bridge long distance and brings the benefits of health and education to remote areas in African countries, Navdeep Suri, joint secretary (Public Diplomacy) in the external affairs ministry, told reporters here Saturday.

A team of experts from the TCIL will visit each of these countries soon to take the process forward, Suri said.

It is tailor-made for requirements of small island developing states, he added.

The Pan-Africa e-network seeks to bridge the digital divide among 53 nations of Africa and seeks to link Indian universities and hospitals to African countries.

Collin Beck, permanent representative of Solomon Islands to the UN, said the e-network would suit the island countries given the growing needs for higher education and specialist healthcare in these countries.

“Tele-education, tele-medicine and e-governance is a wonderful three-in-one package,” said Stuart Beck, permanent representative of Palau, an island of 20,000 people that attracts high-end 100,000 tourists in search of exotic beaches and marine life.

They have been invited by the external affairs ministry in a public diplomacy outreach to the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) - a cohesive group which has 13 votes in the UN and has acquired an important profile in climate change negotiations.

Pacific island states are also looking for India’s leadership in climate change negotiations after the December 2009 Copenhagen conference.

The envoys said they want concrete financial commitment by developed countries to these countries which are most vulnerable to climate change as they are located barely two to three feet above sea level.

“We are yet to see paper money to combat climate change,” said Beck, while underlining disillusionment of these countries at the failure of the Copenhagen summit to come out with tangible funds commitments to help developing countries transition to green technologies.