Senior defence officials from Fiji and India met in New Delhi on Monday, 28 September 2026, for the second India-Fiji Bilateral Joint Working Group, with maritime security, cyber training, military training and defence industry collaboration on the agenda, according to statements from India’s Ministry of Defence carried by Hindustan Times. Nothing was signed.
Fiji was represented by Mason Smith, Permanent Secretary for Defence and Veterans Affairs, who co-chaired the session with Amitabh Prasad, Joint Secretary (International Cooperation) at the Indian defence ministry, ddindia‘s account of the ministry release notes. The delegation travels on to Kochi on Tuesday for two days at India’s Southern Naval Command — the only forward-dated item in any of the statements.
Key facts
- Event: second India-Fiji Bilateral Joint Working Group (JWG), New Delhi, Monday 28 September 2026.
- Co-chairs: Amitabh Prasad (India) and Mason Smith (Fiji).
- Agenda, per the ministry: military training and capacity building, service-to-service engagements, maritime security, cyber training, defence industry collaboration and institutional cooperation between the two armed forces.
- Sidelines: Smith met India’s Defence Secretary, Rajesh Kumar Singh, and earlier laid a wreath at the National War Memorial.
- Also on the Delhi programme: a briefing on Indian defence manufacturing at DPSU Bhavan, World Trade Centre.
- Next: Kochi, 29-30 September, to inspect Southern Naval Command facilities.
- Not announced: any funding figure, contract or signed instrument — and no Fijian government statement was found.
Why it matters for Fiji
Strip away the diplomatic language and what India is offering Fiji is seat time: naval training modules, professional aviation training and cyber instruction, delivered at Indian facilities. That is a low-cost, high-leverage form of influence. It does not require Suva to buy anything, budget for anything or sign anything — and on this report’s reading, that is also why there was nothing to sign this week. An offer of deck space and classroom places carries no price tag for either treasury to approve. What it does carry is curriculum: Fijian officers trained on Indian ships, by Indian instructors, to Indian doctrine.
For a military whose size and tempo are set by Fiji’s budget rather than by its threat assessment, that is the form of help that actually lands. It is also consistent with how the wider relationship is being built — the same week’s diplomatic traffic in Suva has been about agriculture, health, trade and economic cooperation, not weapons sales. Capacity, not capital equipment, is the currency here.
Fiji now has more than one partner making that offer. Australia has been standing up a Pacific defence training hub at Black Rock in Fiji itself, a model that keeps the training on Fijian soil and makes Fiji the venue rather than the visitor. India’s pitch runs the other way: come to Kochi, see the Southern Naval Command, take the module there. Neither is exclusive, and nothing in the Indian statements suggests Fiji is being asked to choose. But the two offers compete for the same finite resource — the number of RFMF and Fiji Navy personnel Fiji can spare for training in any given year — and whoever fills those slots shapes the professional formation of the next generation of Fijian officers.
The agenda also lands squarely on capability gaps Fiji has struggled to close domestically. Fiji News has previously reported on how Fiji enforces its maritime laws — a regime whose weakness has consistently been enforcement capacity rather than legislation, across a vast ocean area patrolled by a small fleet. Cyber is the same story in a different domain: Fiji’s counter-terrorism strategy identified threats the country has limited in-house specialist capacity to counter. Training offers are cheap for the donor and genuinely useful to the recipient, which is why they arrive faster than hardware or money.
The caveat is that none of this is yet binding. A joint working group meeting produces a communiqué, not a commitment, and the Indian ministry’s own vocabulary — consolidate the partnership, identify new avenues, maintain regular engagements — describes a relationship being kept warm rather than one being scaled up. The test is what comes out of Kochi.
Inside the talks
Both sides expressed satisfaction at the growth in bilateral defence engagements and reaffirmed a commitment to expand cooperation in mutually beneficial areas, Hindustan Times said. The release framed the meeting as an opportunity to consolidate the existing partnership and identify new avenues, and recorded agreement to maintain regular engagements. India also used the session to restate where Fiji sits in its regional thinking, reiterating the importance it accords Fiji and the Pacific Island Countries in its vision of a free, open, inclusive and secure Indo-Pacific — a formulation both delegations endorsed.
Smith’s separate meeting with Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh turned on strengthening bilateral defence and maritime cooperation, including scope for greater defence-industry collaboration, per a post on X by the Directorate of Public Relations at India’s Ministry of Defence, quoted by Lokmat Times and Ommcom News. That industry thread was given a physical showcase the same day, when the delegation was taken to DPSU Bhavan at the World Trade Centre and briefed on India’s indigenous defence manufacturing under the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative, including exhibition displays and augmented and virtual reality battlefield simulators.
Kochi visit on 29-30 September
The two-day visit to Kochi, in southern India, is the one scheduled item still ahead. The delegation will inspect Southern Naval Command facilities to explore and formalise cooperation in advanced naval training and professional aviation training modules, with the stated aim of enhancing technical proficiency and operational synergy between the two maritime forces.
The word doing the work there is “formalise”: it implies a document may follow, but none has been announced. No trainee numbers, course lengths, start dates, cost-sharing arrangements or funding sources appear in any of the reports reviewed.
What the statements do not say
For readers tracking whether this becomes a real programme rather than a photo opportunity, the gaps are as instructive as the announcements. There is no dollar or rupee figure. There is no memorandum of understanding, letter of intent or contract. There is no equipment transfer, no ship visit schedule beyond Kochi, and no date for a third Joint Working Group. Nor is there any indication of what Fiji asked for, because Fiji has not publicly said.
Background and sourcing
India and Fiji share close and friendly relations underpinned by historical, cultural and people-to-people ties, the Indian defence ministry said in material carried by Hindustan Times and ddindia. The defence track sits alongside steady diplomatic contact in Suva: India’s High Commissioner to Fiji, Suneet Mehta, met Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamica on 8 September for talks on agriculture, health, trade and economic cooperation, Ommcom News reported, citing the Indian High Commission in Fiji.
Every account of Monday’s meeting traces back to a single origin: India’s Ministry of Defence and its Directorate of Public Relations. Hindustan Times and Lokmat Times both note their versions were generated from automated agency feeds without editorial review. Fiji News found no statement from Fiji’s Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces or opposition MPs, which means the Fijian side of what was agreed, requested or declined is not on the record. This report will be updated if Suva comments.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Mason Smith write in the visitors book at India’s National War Memorial?
Smith laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in New Delhi before the talks and wrote in the visitors book that the occasion was a solemn one to honour the soldiers’ courage, sacrifice and legacy, per Ommcom News. He added that both countries reaffirm “our shared commitment to the values of peace, democracy and enduring cooperation between Fiji and India”.
How often do India and Fiji hold these defence talks?
Rarely enough that the mechanism is still new. Monday’s meeting was only the second India-Fiji Bilateral Joint Working Group, and the Indian defence ministry material carried by Hindustan Times, ddindia, Lokmat Times and Ommcom News does not say when the first was held, where the third will sit, or how often the group is meant to convene. The only scheduling commitment on the record is that both sides agreed to “maintain regular engagements”.
What is India getting out of the defence relationship with Fiji?
The statements name two things. The first is strategic framing: India says it reiterated the importance it accords Fiji and the Pacific Island Countries in its vision of a free, open, inclusive and secure Indo-Pacific. The second is commercial. The Delhi programme routed the Fijian delegation through DPSU Bhavan for a briefing on India’s indigenous defence manufacturing under ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ — a state-owned-industry showcase that is, on this report’s reading, an export pitch as much as a courtesy. Nothing in the statements says Fiji was asked to buy anything, and no procurement was announced.
Has Fiji’s government said anything about the Delhi talks?
Not in any source reviewed for this report. Every account of the meeting — the topics discussed, the sidelines talks and the Kochi itinerary — originates with India’s Ministry of Defence and its Directorate of Public Relations. Fiji News found no statement from Fiji’s Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, the Republic of Fiji Military Forces or opposition MPs at the time of publication. This report will be updated if Suva comments.
