Fiji first to celebrate India`s 67th Independence Day

Sydney: Fiji, which lies closest to the International Date Line in the east, Thursday became the first of many nations where India`s 67th Independence Day was celebrated. Hundreds of people of Indian origin gathered at the Indian high commission in Fiji`s capital Suva to mark the event.

Unfurling the tricolour, Indian High Commissioner Vinod Kumar said that India and Fiji had achieved a lot since the establishment of bilateral relations between the two countries, the Fiji Times reported. He added that India would continue to work with Fiji and its people to further enhance their friendly relations. The South Pacific island nation is six-and-a-half hours ahead of Indian Standard Time. Ethnic Indians comprise 37 percent of Fiji`s population of nearly 870,000. Most of them are descendants of indentured labourers who were brought in from India between 1879 and 1916 to work in the country`s sugarcane plantations. IANS