In a rare honour for a non-Fijian, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred the country’s highest civilian award, the Companion of the Order of Fiji, in recognition of his global leadership on Monday. Fiji’s Prime Minster Sitiveni Rabuka presented PM Modi with a medallion for the title when the two leaders met in Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea also conferred PM Modi with their highest civilian award on May 22. He was given the accolade for championing the cause of unity of Pacific Island countries and spearheading the cause of Global South. Earlier in the day, the Indian Prime Minister held talks with his Papua New Guinea counterpart, James Marape, and took stock of their bilateral relations. The two leaders also discussed ways to further augment cooperation in areas like commerce, technology, healthcare and climate change.