Port Louis [Mauritius], March 12 (ANI): During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mauritius, both nations agreed to collaborate in various areas. The agreements encompassed student exchange programs focused on visits to India through the Char Dham and Ramayana trails, educational curriculum development cooperation, a labor recruitment memorandum of understanding, and the creation of a Directorate of Science and Technology in Mauritius. It was also mentioned that PM Modi extended an invitation to his Mauritian counterpart to tour India.
Throughout Prime Minister Modi’s two-day stay, diplomatic discussions occurred between India and Mauritius.
As stated by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Prime Minister Modi and Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchakra Ramgoolam noted that their bilateral ties exhibit a strong level of confidence and shared comprehension across multiple dimensions. This relationship is further strengthened through frequent top-tier interactions and reciprocal state visits between both nations.
Recognizing that Mauritius’s involvement as a Guest nation during India’s G20 presidency has strengthened interactions in every sector, both leaders confirmed their dedication to sustaining these collaborations.
Significantly, both leaders concurred on enhancing collaboration for exchanging exemplary practices concerning parliamentary procedures and committed to boosting engagement among parliamentarians from their respective nations.
Regarding cultural connections and interpersonal interactions, both leaders concurred on enhancing these strong friendships via various measures like aiding the preservation of historical documents pertaining to indentured Indian laborers at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute with specialized assistance from the National Archives of India. They also discussed boosting diaspora involvement through programs such as Know India, Connecting Roots, Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, along with offering scholarships. Additionally, they committed to collaborating on researching the heritage left behind by Girmityas—their contributions—and fostering personal relationships and culture exchange through tours focusing on sites like Char Dham and the Ramayana Trail, alongside historic pilgrimage spots in India. Lastly, they aimed to speed up the execution of an agreement concerning labor migration to ease workforce movement between Mauritius and India.
According to the statement, the leaders highlighted that the Mauritius-India bilateral partnership in areas such as development, defense, and maritime security, along with cultural exchanges, serves as an exemplary model of collaboration and establishes a benchmark for partnerships within the area.
Both leaders concurred on maintaining efforts to provide direction and support aimed at upgrading their relation into an advanced Strategic Partnership. This partnership would be advantageous for both sides, address Mauritius’s development requirements, and foster common goals within the area.
Prime Minister Ramgoolam expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Modi for attending as the Guest of Honor at the National Day festivities celebrating the 57th anniversary of Mauritius’s independence and the 33rd anniversary of the country becoming a republic.
Following the PM’s reception of Mauritius’ top honor during his trip, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar posted on X, “Honored to see Prime Minister Shri @narendramodi being bestowed with Mauritius’ ‘Grand Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean.’ This accolade underscores PM Modi’s guidance and dedication to a thriving Indian Ocean region. It also highlights the strong ties of camaraderie shared between India and Mauritius.”
He also took to X to offer wishes to the people of Mauritius upon the celebrations of their National Day. “Warm wishes to FM @RitishRamful, the Government and the people of Mauritius on their National Day. Honoured to join PM @narendramodi for the National Day celebrations in Port Louis today. Confident that our historic and special relationship will continue to progress and prosper”, the EAM said on X.
The PMO observed during the meeting that Prime Minister Modi extended an invitation to Prime Minister Ramgoolam to make an official trip to India at his earliest convenience.
Regarding collaborative efforts in the fields of space exploration and climate action, Prime Minister Ramgoolam expressed gratitude to the Indian government for assisting with the co-development of a satellite for Mauritius. He noted that this partnership underscores India’s consistent backing of Mauritius throughout its progress and growth.
The PMO noted that in order to further deepen cooperation in the space domain, India and Mauritius agreed to work closely towards successful development and launch of the India-Mauritius satellite, including requisite training for Mauritian scientists and experts at the Indian Space Research Organisation, support implementation of weather and climate forecasting system at different temporal scales, Wave Rider Buoys and Multi-hazard Emergency System in Mauritius to help it build a resilient disaster preparedness and response system, renew the ongoing cooperation between ISRO and Mauritius Research and Innovation Council (MRIC) on ISRO Telemetry and Tracking Centre in Mauritius; and pursue the proposal of the Government of India for a development partnership project aimed at utilising an Earth Observation Application and an interactive computing framework to enable Mauritius to monitor extreme weather events and study climate impact effectively, which will be carried out by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), under the umbrella of the QUAD.
In the area of health and education, both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to providing quality, affordable, and accessible health care benefits to the people of Mauritius. They appreciated the launch of the first Jan Aushadhi Kendras by India abroad in Mauritius and agreed to expand the initiative to various parts of Mauritius.
India and Mauritius committed to collaborate on exchanging knowledge regarding drug de-addiction and rehabilitation efforts. This partnership aims to tackle the growing concerns of drug addiction and associated societal problems in Mauritius. The collaboration will involve working closely with the National Drug Policy, Monitoring and Coordination Agency, leveraging the expertise and assistance provided by India’s Narcotics Control Bureau.
Advancing the ongoing cooperation in the health domain, the two leaders further agreed to work closely towards the timely implementation of the Digital Health Office system in Mauritius, along with the deputation of a specialist from India, to aid the Government of Mauritius’s endeavour to digitise health care services in Mauritius.
Highlighting the significance of collaboration within AYUSH, Prime Minister Ramgoolam expressed appreciation for India’s assistance in establishing an Ayush Center of Excellence in Mauritius. He further conveyed his gratitude to Prime Minister Modi for providing all necessary amenities to Mauritian patients receiving treatment in India.
Notably, the leaders also welcomed ongoing discussions between the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) and the Ministry of Higher Education of Mauritius on sharing expertise in developing school education curricula and agreed that such cooperation initiatives will augur well for deepening bilateral ties and strengthening institutional linkages in the field of school education.
They also agreed to strengthen India-Mauritius science and tech cooperation, which includes the preparation of a roadmap for the implementation of the National Science and Technology Strategy and collaboration on the establishment of the Directorate of Science and Technology in Mauritius. (ANI)
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