Port Moresby/IBNS: India is proud to be the development partner of Pacific Island nations, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-chairing the 3rd India-Pacific Islands Cooperation Summit in Papua New Guinea on Monday, media reports said.

Modi said this at the summit which was attended by 14 Pacific Island countries.

Modi said as quoted by NDTV, "India is proud to be your development partner. You can count on India as a reliable partner. We are ready to share our experiences and capabilities with you without hesitation.

"We believe in multilateralism and support a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific."

The Prime Minister said he was happy that his country took beside the Pacific Island nations during Covid-19.

"Challenges related to climate change, natural disasters, hunger, poverty and health were already there, now new problems are arising... I am happy that India stood by its friendly Pacific Island countries in times of difficulty," said Modi.

Earlier, Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape on Monday in Port Moresby, on the sidelines of the 3rd Summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC).

Modi said he had a productive talk with the PM.

"Prime Minister James Marape and I had very productive talks, covering the full range of bilateral relations between India and Papua New Guinea. We discussed ways to augment cooperation in commerce, technology, healthcare and in addressing climate change," Modi tweeted.