Joint address of EAM, Dr. S. Jaishankar with Prime Minister of Mauritius

Your Excellency, Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Namaskar and good afternoon.

I am truly delighted to return to this beautiful country and I am very thankful to you, Prime Minister, and to the Government of Mauritius for the warm welcome and generous hospitality.

As the Prime Minister noted, I came here a little more than three years ago in very different circumstances and I want to compliment you, Prime Minister, for your leadership in seeing Mauritius, through the COVID challenge, and to the people of this country for the tremendous resilience that they have shown in overcoming, what is really a once-in-a-century event.

As the Prime Minister noted, there have been many, many achievements in our relationship in the last few years. I don't wish to dilate on them. You saw the visuals of many of them in the video. The Prime Minister himself was gracious enough to highlight some of them. But I can only say this, that India is truly proud to be a partner of Mauritius in your journey towards modernity and progress.

Excellency,

Mauritius is one of the first countries that I am visiting in my current term as External Affairs Minister. It underscores the strength and depth of our bilateral ties. It is also an opportunity to underline India's unwavering commitment to its special and enduring partnership with Mauritius.

Today, I have had the privilege of calling on the Prime Minister. I conveyed the personal greetings and warm regards of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I also told the Prime Minister that the people of India appreciated very deeply his presence as the Modi government was sworn in for the third time, last month.

At our meeting, we discussed various aspects of our bilateral ties, including the Development Partnership, Defense and Maritime Corporation, economic and trade ties, and people-to-people linkages. I reiterated India's consistent and continued support to Mauritius in its quest for progress and prosperity. After all, our ties with Mauritius benefits from four Indian priority foreign policy approaches. You are part of our Neighborhood First Policy, of our Vision SAGAR, of our Africa Forward Initiative, as well as to our commitment to the Global South. In addition, we share the closest of bonds from history and kinship.

Friends,

Testifying to these deep-rooted ties, our President Draupadi Murmu, visited Mauritius this year as the chief guest of Mauritius National Day celebrations. As announced then, I was honored today to hand over the first Overseas Citizen of India cards to two very fine specimens of seventh-generation Indian origin Mauritians. This special carve-out for Mauritius further demonstrates our special and enduring ties.

Our relationship today has actually blossomed into a robust and multifaceted partnership. Indeed, it serves as a role model for India's successful development collaboration abroad. The Prime Minister mentioned, and I am privileged to join him tomorrow, in inaugurating the Mediclinic in Grand Bois tomorrow, built with Indian grant assistance, adding to a list of signature projects here. I will also visit another Indian assisted project, the Civil Service College in Moka, which will be ready for inauguration soon.

We truly take pride that our collaboration changes the lives of ordinary citizens in this country, through many community development projects, some of which you had the opportunity to see in the video before us. And these today, cover infrastructure in education, in healthcare, in public amenities and in sports. As you also saw, we have virtually inaugurated 12 of them today, and with this, 37 out of 96 such community projects have become operational in the span of just one year. Eight more, I understand, will be inaugurated in the next two months in Rodrigues and Agalega.

Our discussion on space cooperation, which the Prime Minister touched upon, has also been translated into a concrete project with the exchange of Project Plan Document between India's ISRO and Mauritius MRIC. We look forward to its early implementation so as to launch a satellite for Mauritius.

Friends,

It was again a great pleasure to hand over to you, Minister, the royalty payment cheque of 1.3 million Mauritian rupees towards revenues earned from the sale of Mauritian nautical charts produced by our joint hydrography service. This maritime collaboration is now nearly two decades old and has added value to our multifaceted cooperation.

We are also working together to preserve our shared history. We will support the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in digitizing the documented records of indentured workers, as well as provide training to MGI staff through the National Archives of India. We have also agreed today to renew the term of the ICCR Chair in Sanskrit and Indian Philosophies at the MGI for another five years.

As we look at our deep and enduring relationship, Prime Minister, I would like to again assure you today that on the issue of Chagos, India will continue its consistent support to Mauritius in line with its principal stand on decolonization and support for sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations.

Excellencies,

Dear friends,

Let me conclude by affirming that India remains committed to strengthening of this critical partnership that is so important for the future of the Indian Ocean region. Before closing, I would again like to thank Prime Minister Jugnauth and the Government and people of Mauritius for giving me this opportunity today, to once again experience the special warmth of our friendship.

Thank you.