(5 minutes read)
· External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar, who was on a visit to the Island Nation recently called on Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth and held talks with Foreign Minister M Alan Ganoo
· The minister also handed over 100,000 additional doses of commercially procured ‘Made in India’ COVID-19 vaccines
· The two countries also signed a comprehensive trade protocols that allow duty free access of certain goods to each other’s country
External Affairs Minister of India S Jaishankar, who was on a visit to the Island Nation recently called on Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth and held talks with Foreign Minister M Alan Ganoo. During the meetings, they reviewed the successful development partnership between the two countries.
Jaishankar underscored that India would be a ready partner in Mauritius’ economic recovery and revival efforts. The two countries also signed comprehensive trade protocols that allow duty free access of certain goods to each other’s country. www.treendsnafrica.com has earlier reported about the trade treaty, which is couched up in the form of a free trade agreement, when it was cleared by the Indian cabinet during its recent meeting. Incidentally, it is the first time India signed such an agreement with an African country.
The minister also handed over 100,000 additional doses of commercially procured ‘Made in India’ COVID-19 vaccines. Earlier, India had donated Covid-19 vaccine to the Island Nation. Comprehensive discussions on the status of implementation of various infrastructure projects being undertaken with Indian assistance were also held to fast track them and to take up more such works.
Indian-origin people constitute nearly 70 per cent of the population of Mauritius. Both president and the prime minister are of Indian origin. Mauritius is India’s key maritime neighbor in the Indian Ocean Region. www.trendnafrica.com has been reporting about the political turmoil in the Island Nation. Recently, a few ministers have resigned under one pretext or the other. The opposition parties are clamoring for change in leadership, which they claim is steeped in corruption and run by a few vested interests. The oil slick that had happened in the recent times also stirred the rancor of the people alleging that the government was slack in handling the slick. The government, however, had denied the charges and spelt out various short, medium and long term plans to maintain the ecological balance of the fragile Indian Ocean country.
Equally, significant is the interest of India and China in Mauritius, an important strategic point in the Indian Ocean. Also, the impact of pandemic on Mauritius, which draws a sizeable chunk of its GDP from tourism, was very significant, leading to widespread loss of income and employment to many. The recent visit of the Indian external affairs minister was to reassure continued assistance of India to bail out the nation from the current economic and political woes. Significantly, the Reserve Bank of India had recently tightened some of the provisions of the double taxation agreement treaty between the two countries as reported by www.trendsnafrica.com a few days ago. Earlier, Mauritius occupied the top slot as the FDI investor in India. As of now, it has moved down to third position after Cayman Islands and Singapore
