India announces $655 million special economic package for Mauritius

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Mauritian counterpart Navinchandra Ramgoolam in Varanasi on September 11.

• India announced an over $655 million special economic package for Mauritius and signed seven pacts to further expand bilateral ties in several critical sectors.

• Under the special economic package, India will assist Mauritius implement at least 10 projects that include strengthening key infrastructure like port, airport, and roads and to set up new schools and hospitals.

• PM Modi said that both sides will work towards enabling bilateral trade in local currencies following successful launch of UPI and RuPay cards in Mauritius.

MoUs/Agreements

1) MoU on cooperation in the field of science and technology between India’s Department of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Research, Mauritius.

2) MoU between Council of Scientific and Industrial Research - National Institute of Oceanography, and Mauritius Oceanography Institute.

3) MoU between Karmayogi Bharat under the Department of Personnel and Training and the Ministry of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, Mauritius.

4) MoU on cooperation in the field of power sector.

5) MoU regarding Indian grant assistance for implementation of phase II of small development projects.

6) Renewal of the MoU in the field of hydrography.

7) Agreement between the government of India and the government of Mauritius on cooperation for establishment of telemetry, tracking, and telecommunications station for satellites and launch vehicles and for cooperation in fields of space research, science and application.

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.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)