Several issues of mutual interest and bilateral cooperation were discussed between PM Pravind Jugnauth and his Indian counterpart, Shri Narendra Modi on the sidelines of Global Ayush Investment and Innovation Summit at Gandhinagar in Gujarat on Wednesday. The two leaders discussed defence and strategic partnership between India and Mauritius, while showing their concern about the sudden rise of the radical islamist ideologies. China’s growing influence and activism in the Indian ocean region was also discussed.
“At the tête-à-tête meeting I had with Prime Minister Shri @NarendraModi, several issues of mutual interest were discussed. The challenging times the world is living through have reinforced the relevance of the Mauritius-India Partnership,” tweeted PM Jugnauth.
“Held productive discussions with PM @KumarJugnauth. We talked about further deepening bilateral cooperation between India and Mauritius across different sectors,” tweeted PM Modi after the bilateral meeting.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said that the two leaders discussed the ongoing development partnership and cooperation in defence, capacity building, people to people exchanges and Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations. They also reviewed progress of the Metro Express Project and the proposal for an AYUSH Centre of Excellence in Mauritius. India also extended full support to Mauritius to tackle the outreach of violent extremist ideologies.
India-Mauritius Relations
India has been bolstering ties with countries like Maldives and Mauritius under PM Modi’s vision of ‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All in the Region). During his visit in February 2021, the External Affairs minister of India, S Jaishankar had signed an agreement for the extension of a USD 100 million Line of Credit to Mauritius for the purpose of financing procurement of defence equipment from India.
A contract regarding the export of Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH Mk III) for the Mauritius Police Force was also signed between Indian’s Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Mauritian government in January this year. Last year in September, the Indian government had given a Dornier aircraft to the Mauritian government on lease. A short refit of the Mauritian Coast Guard ship, Barracuda was also done in Kolkata last year. Two weeks ago, India provided Mauritius with another state-of-the-art Passenger Variant Dornier (PVD) Aircraft, DO 228 manufactured at HAL, Kanpur. The aircraft is said to be used by the Mauritian Police Force for better connection with the outer islands.
It is also to be noted that Mauritius recently became a permanent member at the 5th Colombo Security Conclave along with India, Maldives and Sri Lanka. Earlier, Mauritius was an observer state. The Colombo Security Conclave (CLC), was founded as a trilateral security framework between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives with four pillars of security cooperation, covering marine safety and security, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, and cyber security. The CLC initiative was led by India’s National Security Advisor, Shri Ajit Doval and is now being referred by many as ‘South Asian Quad’ or the ‘Quad minilateral’.
