India, Aug. 25 -- India and Fiji on Monday agreed to deepen cooperation in defence and security and to work together for a peaceful, secure and inclusive Indo-Pacific as talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka focused on ways to expand collaboration in areas ranging from agriculture to health.

Rabuka, who arrived in India on Sunday for a three-day visit, met Modi for wide-ranging discussions that covered security cooperation, the situation in the Pacific Islands and the wider Indo-Pacific, and other regional issues. In recent years, India has focused on forging closer ties with the Pacific Island states, among which Fiji has a larger economy and military, to counter China's influence.

"We ha...