Fiji’s High Commissioner to India Yogesh Punja in July said bilateral trade between India and his Pacific Ocean island country has massive growth potential as it can be used as a “bouncing board” to the markets of Australia and New Zealand. Noting that the current annual trade between India and Pacific Island Countries (PICs) currently hovers at around $300 million, he said the trade is low in volume due to their small population, market sizes and long distance from India. “Invest in Fiji and use that as a bouncing board into Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. Parts of Southeast Asia have the fastest-growing population. Countries like Indonesia will have shortage of food in due course. So the food needs to come from people who can supply food chain. Australia is investing around $600 billion to service Asia as it is very close to that region,” Punja said at an event promoting India-Fiji partnership organised by the Calcutta Chamber of Commerce in Kolkata.