A promise by the Indian Prime Minister to light 200 homes in the Solomon Islands

SOLOMON Islands new Prime Minister has said his government will not forget its traditional development partners and seek to work ever closely with them in seeing to the needs of the nation.

 The Solomon Islands must improve its renewable energy sources and I would request the Prime Minister to be mindful that over a weekend in 2015, 14 Pacific nations met in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan for a summit on the subject of renewable energy.

 At that summit, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, pledged to give its island neighbours enough solar power to light up thousands of homes.

 Mr. Modi, said on that occasion, “We now commit to provide solar electrification to 2,800 homes – 200 in each Pacific Island country. This will save kerosene worth abbot $1 million.”

 Outlying his ideas the Indian Prime Minister explained his plan was to help the smaller nations deal with the effects of climate change in the coming decades.

 Mr. Modi also mentioned that India would also work with researchers in the Pacific nations to provide better human resources and technologies to deal with natural disaster management with early warning and response systems.

 India has had diplomatic relations with the Solomon Islands since May 1987 and relations are friendly with political interaction between the two nations very comprehensive.

 In the most recent past India has offered some 15 scholarships to the Solomon Island under Technical Cooperation Programs and also offered grants for a range of social programs as well as giving some US$50,000 during the deadly floods that raged through Honiara in 2014.

 As the relations with India are on a sound footing and the new government in the Solomon Islands is keen to maintain its ties with its traditional donor partners, I would urge the PM to seek assurances from the Indian Government when the 200 homes in the Solomon Islands will be provided with lighting as promised by Prime Minister Modi.

 Yours sincerely

 Frank Short

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