12th World Hindi Conference to be held in Nadi, Fiji in February 2023
The Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan has announced at an event in New Delhi on 27 October 2022 that the 12th World Hindi Conference will be held in Nadi, Fiji from 15-17 February 2023.
The event is being organised by the External Affairs Ministry, Government of India and the Government of Fiji. The event will be used to promote Hindi as a global language.
Why Fiji?
It is for the first time that Fiji will be hosting the conference. English, Fijian and Fijian Hindi are the three official languages of Fiji.
Around 30% of the Fijian population is of Indian descent and majority of them speak Hindi.
Effort to make Hindi a UN language
Speaking at the event the External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said efforts are on to get Hindi recognised as an official language at the United Nations (UN) and progress has been made in that direction but it will take some time.
He said that Hindi is being used by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The UN Secretariat is using Hindi language in its use in social media and newsletters.
However Hindi is not the official language of the UN.
The UN has six official languages: English, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and French.
World Hindi Conference
The first world Hindi conference to popularize Hindi as a global language was held in Nagpur in 1975. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister of India.
| S.NO | Year | Place | Country |
| 1 | 10-12 January 1975 | Nagpur | India |
| 2 | 28-30 August 1976 | Port Louis | Mauritius |
| 3 | 24-28 October 1983 | New Delhi | India |
| 4 | 2-4 December 1993 | Port Louis | Mauritius |
| 5 | 4-8 April 1996 | Port of Spain | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 6 | 14-18 September 1999 | London | United Kingdom |
| 7 | 5-9 June 2003 | Paramaribo | Suriname |
| 8 | 13-15 July 2007 | New York City | United States of America |
| 9 | 22-24 September 2012 | Johannesburg | South Africa |
| 10 | 10-12 September 2015 | Bhopal | Madhya Pradesh /India |
| 11 | 18-20 August’ 2018 | Port Louis | Mauritius |
| 12 | 15-17 February 2023 | Nadi | Fiji |
Hindi Diwas:
Every year 14 September is observed as Hindi Diwas in India. On this day in 1949 the Constituent Assembly adopted Hindi as the official language of the country.
Republic of Fiji
It is an archipelago consisting of around 300 islands in the South Pacific Ocean.
Capital: Suva
Currency: Fijian Dollar
Prime Minister: Frank Bainimarama
