• President Droupadi Murmu participated in the 56th National Day Celebrations of Mauritius as the chief guest on March 12. 

• The University of Mauritius conferred Honoris Causa Degree of Doctor of Civil Law on Murmu. 

• The presence of Murmu at the 56th anniversary of the Independence and 32nd anniversary of the Republic of Mauritius marks a momentous occasion for the India-Mauritius special partnership.

• Mauritius Day commemorates the East African country’s independence from Britain in 1968 and its transition to a republic in 1992.

• Earlier, Murmu also took a short metro ride to the Mahatma Gandhi Metro Station in Mauritius.

• Mauritius Metro, a flagship India-assisted project, has a transformational impact on the lives of the people of Mauritius.

• In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi jointly inaugurated a metro express service and a hospital in Mauritius with Mauritian premier Pravind Jugnauth via video. 

India-Mauritius relations

• Mauritius is a former British and French colony that gained independence from British rule in 1968.

• India has close, long-standing relations with Mauritius, an island nation in the Western Indian Ocean, owing to historic, demographic and cultural reasons. 

• A key reason for the special ties is the fact that Indian origin people comprise nearly 70 per cent of the island’s population of 1.2 million.

• Diplomatic relations between India and Mauritius were established in 1948, even before the independence of Mauritius.

• India and Mauritius share a unique relationship that is strategic, reliable and time-tested on one hand, and is based on historical, cultural and ties of kinship on the other. 

• The relationship has been further strengthened by the close engagement between the leadership and strong people to people ties. India’s engagement with Mauritius has evolved into a multi-faceted relationship encompassing cooperation in key priority areas including people oriented development partnership, defence and maritime cooperation, trade & commercial ties, capacity building through scholarships and ITEC programmes, etc.

• India has traditionally been the ‘first responder’ for Mauritius in times of crisis, including during the recent COVID-19 and Wakashio oil-spill crises. 

• Mauritius is one of India’s key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupies a special place in PM Modi’s vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region).

• In February 2021, the two countries signed a landmark Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Partnership Agreement (CECPA).

• The island nation is also part of India’s security grid including Coastal Surveillance Radar (CSR) station of Indian Navy’s National Command Control Communication Intelligence network (NC3I Network).

• As part of Mission SAGAR, medical assistance teams were deployed to Mauritius to help in dealing with the COVID-19 emergency. 

• Since 2005, India has been among the largest trading partners of Mauritius. The bilateral trade during 2022-23 was $554.19 million.

• India’s exports to Mauritius comprises largely petroleum products. Other main items of India’s exports to Mauritius are pharmaceuticals, cereals, cotton, shrimps and prawns. The island nation’s exports to New Delhi include vanilla, medical devices, needles, aluminium alloys, scrap paper, refined copper, etc.

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