Remarks by EAM, Dr. S. Jaishankar at the Inauguration of the Mediclinic project in Mauritius

Excellency, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth Ji,

Vice Prime Minister Leela Devi Dookun Luchoomun Ji,

Minister Kailash Jagutpal ji,

High Commissioner Nandini Singla,

Ministers, Senior Officials, Friends,

Deviyon aur Sajjano, Saathiyon, aap sabko mera namaskar!

A very good afternoon. Vanakkam.

This is one of my first visits after becoming Foreign Minister again in Modi Ji's third term of governance. And as I was setting out for Mauritius, unhone mujhe kaha ki Mauritius ja rahe ho, meri aur se sabko hello kehna. Toh main sabko hello keh raha hoon. Aur unhone ye bhi kaha ki 140 karod deshwasiyon se bhi unki aur se bhi unki subhkamnaye jo hain woh Mauritius mei dena. So really I want to say it's always good to be back here. And normally Foreign Ministers, hum log aate hain, we go to the hotel, we go to the Foreign Ministry, we call on the Prime Minister, we go to the airport and we go back. Today for me to be with all of you, this is a very special feeling and I really thank you all for making that possible.

Now, in India, we have a policy called Neighbourhood First, mane Pados ki Prathamikta. ki jo padosi desh jo hain, they are the ones you think about a lot, the most. But I want to say, and this is not only or just a neighbourly relationship, Modi ji kehte hain, yeh dil ka rishta hain, khoon ka ristha hain, and that feeling we express in many, many ways. Sukh ka samay ho, dukh ka samay ho, hum aapas mei jo bhi bhavnaye jo ye woh baant dete hain hamare beech mei. Aur aap logon ne dekha hoga ki jo video dikhai di, usmei pichla mera visit jo tha woh COVID ke samay mei tha, aur mujhe abhi bhi yaad hain ki kya chunautiya thi us samay, hum log, sab log, puri duniya jo hain woh pareshan thi. And at that time, in fact, I had the honor of bringing the first set of vaccines to this country. And today, today when I come back after three years, I admire the resilience of this country, of its people. I can see today that you have all picked yourselves up. You are today in a very different mood and mode, and it is something we also take great pride in.

Now, I said, dukh ka samay hain, par sukh ka bhi samay hain, aur sukh ke samay mei hum log bahot aabhari the ki Mauritius ke Pradhan Mantri Pravind Jugnauth ji, Modi ji ke shapath grahan mei aaye. Aap sabki aur se aaye, aapki shubhkamnaye jo hain unhone wahan bharat mei ja kar prakat ki aur main apni aur se unko aur mere pure deshwasiyo ki aur se main apna aabhar prakat karna chahta hoon.

Now, normally when a Foreign Minister leaves a country and goes abroad, you feel foreign. You feel you are somewhere else. But I want to say for me, this is like a home away from home. I was coming here, I was driving here, sitting in the car. The driver switched on the radio. Half the songs I could recognise. The other half were equally enjoyable. I learned something new. Yesterday, the Prime Minister was kind enough to host me. I had some functions before that. So, whether it is the Gateaux piments or the Dholl puri or whether it is the Geet Gavai, I feel sometimes, yes, I have stepped outside my country, but I am still in our family. So, today, this family has gathered here for a very important event, which is the opening of the Mediclinic. I think it was described as the newest expression of our friendship. And I am told it will provide secondary health care for 16,000 people of Grand Bois area. And we feel very proud to be a partner in this collaboration. And we feel proud because after COVID, Mahamari ke baad, aaj kal jo hai, health is a priority for all of us have become health conscious. We worry about things rightly so, but we also believe, all of us believe that health is our right. Humara adhikar hai. And that right today, every government has a duty to deliver. And for me, to be part of such an important delivery event is something which is a matter of great satisfaction. And I commend the Prime Minister for the initiative, for this collaboration, which has associated us with this event, and which actually will make life better for the ordinary people, the common citizen of this country.

Now, when I said that health has become more important, I also want to share with you that our collaboration has many other health aspects to it. I was told, because I checked up, as soon as I came, I tracked many of the projects that we are doing. So I asked the High Commissioner that there is a renal transplant unit, which is coming up at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital. So she assured me by, I think, end of the year, it should be done. I also know that there are two new area health centres providing primary care. I think, by end August, those should be done. You are, of course, all familiar with the ENT Hospital, which is one of the flagship projects. I was told during COVID, it served as a COVID hospital as well. And today, to hear from the Health Minister that the Jan Aaushadi Kendra is operational, and that actually the Mauritius government will be seeking from us a list of, or a supply of key medicines, key medicines which common citizen uses on a regular basis, which will be available on an affordable basis. That is something which I consider to be a very, very important achievement on the health side.

Now, while I have spoken about health, I also want to share with you all that many of the flagship projects that we have done in Mauritius, these have been really expressions of our affection, of our relationship, of our family linkages, you can see. And every one of you in some form is associated with it, you have benefited from it, you have appreciated it. Any of you who take a ride in the Metro Express is actually testifying and experiencing the friendship of India. All of you, who go to the ENT Hospital or those who live in the social housing projects, I visited those projects, I think there are almost a thousand homes there, 986 I think. Or the Supreme Court building, we are very proud of what quality…of that institution. Or even something as impactful as providing electronic tablets for children. I think all these are today, in a way I can tell you, we are sharing experiences because exactly these things are happening in India. That new hospitals are coming up, new clinics are coming up, Jan Aaushadhi Kendra is coming up, new metros are coming up in India, new social housing projects are coming up and Indian children are also getting digital education. So what is happening in India for us, it is natural that in our extended family we would also like to share abroad and I am very glad today to have an opportunity to see that.

Now, we also in Modi's government, we have a strong commitment to people centric policies. Sometimes they can be small steps, they can be little projects, they can be what are not in a big government, what are not necessarily big policies, but to the community they can make a very big difference. This community for example, its entire health needs will actually change once this clinic comes up. But I can give you many other examples and yesterday I had the privilege with the Prime Minister to participate in the inauguration of these community projects, that they were soccer fields and volleyball fields, there was a cover for a stadium, there was a renovation of a temple. Now each one of them actually matters to the community where they are located and it's these little, they say drops of water make an ocean, it's these little changes, it's this project by project, step by step which actually transforms the life of people. And it's not only here in this city, I was very pleased to know in Rodrigues that we have constructed refugee shelters which I believe are really very badly required there, we have done solar projects there. And even in Agalega, we are working on a coconut oil extraction unit which will provide livelihood for people there. So my point to all of you today is that this sharing of experiences, this way of addressing the needs of our people, this is really what international cooperation, what actually friendship is about. And I'm very proud today as Foreign Minister to witness it for myself to be part of this process.

Now I have spoken about things which perhaps have taken many years, many generations sometimes to master. But in every society new things also happen. I'd be very pleased to see that hundred electric buses, because in India today we are in the era of EVs, that the whole world is moving towards electrification, aur jo electric buses jo aayengi yahan, aur ye jo 100 buses aayengi uska jo message jo hoga, parivartan ka message jo hoga, sustainability ka message jo hoga woh bahut mahatvapurna hain kyuki sab samjhate hain aaj ki climate change ki chunauti jo hain hum sabko miljul ke uska samna karna hoga. Ab jab climate change ki baat karte hain mujhe ye bhi jankari mili thi, ki aapke yaha bahot badi baadh aayi thi, that you had a very big flood. Now we are again very happy that through a Quad mechanism we are actually going to be delivering on a space-based cooperation, which will allow an early warning system, ke yahan koi aapda aaye, koi natural disaster aaye, koi extreme weather event aaye, toh aap yahan pure janta ko pehle se chetavani milegi, taki aap log jo hain apni taiyari kar sakte hain, kyuki kal Pradhan Mantri ji mujhe bata rahe the, ke jab flood yahan pe aaya tha, unhone khud mujhe kaha ki unke office mei kya paristhiti thi, sadak par, shehar mei kya paristhithi thi. Toh aaj kal jo hain, jo purani chunauti hain, nayi chunauti hain, aage ka vishay hain, jo technology jo parivartan la raha hain, hum jo hain miljul kar har vishay mei, har tarike se agar hum kaam karain toh hamain lagta hain, ki ye manavta ka kaam jarur hain par hum duniya ka hum bhala karenge, ye hum donon ke liye aaccha rahega aur isko aage le jane ke liye ek chiz jo jaruri hain woh hain good governance. Aur good governance ke liye good institutions chahiye, and again I had the privilege yesterday Prime Minister visiting the Civil Services college, jo abhi ban raha hain ye Civil Services college kuch hi dinon mei taiyar rahega and we look forward to soon for the National Library and Archives, to a Mauritius Police Academy, to a forensics laboratory. And I want to say that we are not…khali building banana ke liye nahi aaye, we would also like to see how can we do the capacity building, how can we do the training, how can we do the experience sharing. This is really what will make our collaboration work and will deliver in the field.

So the lesson from all of this, jo sabak hain ki hum sabko we have to stand by each other. This is today, that era when somebody from some other part of the world will come to help us, woh jamana gaya. Today we have to help ourselves, we have to stand by each other. And these projects, these initiatives, these are examples of that. And I know some of the other challenges that Mauritius face. People say, you know, you are often described as a small island developing state, SIDS. Prime Minister Modi calls you a large ocean state, because all of you have large oceans. But a large ocean has to be secured. It has a large, Mauritius has a very big EEZ. And the challenges you face are not unique.

Today, what are the challenges? Challenges are illegal fishing, challenges are drug, drug narcotics trade. Challenges can be terrorists. Or it can be even environmental spill, you know, some disaster of some kind. It can be something like a tsunami kind of happening. So how do we today cooperate, even in securing the EEZ? And that is why today our partnership on a project like Agalega is so important. That we are today helping each other, we are helping the region, we are doing good for the world. And I want to say that our partnership today is contributing to the well-being of Mauritius, to connectivity within Mauritius, to the prosperity of Mauritius, and that is a permanent commitment from India.

So finally, let me say this. For us, in a variety of ways, you know, Mauritius is a neighbour. I spoke about this kinship, the history that we have. But we also look today at the possibilities that the relationship offers. That we know when we look at Africa that Mauritius can be a very good gateway to Africa. That when we did the CECPA agreement, it was with the realisation that as an offshore, stable, democratic society, a very respected market economy, that you offer today possibilities as a bridge between India and Africa. In many other ways also, you are a very, very natural partner. You know, when we were - hamare yahan G20 ki aadhykshyata jo thi, when we were having the G20 presidency, I was sitting with the Prime Minister and we were saying, okay, 20 members, 19 plus 1, woh toh aayenge hi aayenge, now every country has a right to invite guests. So we said, chaliye guests ka list banate hain. So it began. shuru to Mauritius so karenge, ab aage dekhenge who else shall we call?

So it's a very natural today inclination. Same thing happened when we had the Global Biofuel Alliance. That when we looked around for partners, again, Mauritius was a very natural partner. In fact, the first project of the biofuel alliance is in Mauritius. And so, again, it was natural during the inauguration, the oath taking. When we said, okay, who should we invite? No surprise who is heading the list. So, Prime Minister, very happy to see you. But we will always, for us, you know…there is a song called Always on our Mind. Mauritius is always on our mind. Any occasion, you know, our happiness is never complete without your presence. We were really very, very thankful you could join us.

So what I want to say today is after two very, very satisfying, very productive days, I will be going back to Delhi tonight, but I will certainly go back and tell Prime Minister Modi that all is well in Mauritius, that I gave his hello to all of you, and you responded in kind, and today this friendship, this very close, something very special, that I think for India is one of our really greatest assets when it comes to international relations.

I once again thank the government of Mauritius, Prime Minister, yourself, the Health Minister, for the opportunity to be with all of you today on this important occasion.

Thank you once again.

Jai Hind, Jai Bharat, Jai Mauritius.

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