Pravind Jugnauth official visit in India

In a meeting held on Thursday between Pravind Jugnauth and Shri Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister of India, several issues of strategic importance were discussed, including the CECPA, implementation of Metro Express, development of Ocean Economy, port development, visa on arrival, Overseas Citizen of India, liberalised remittance system.

India and Mauritius called for greater collaboration in the area of defence and security on Tuesday following a meeting between Mauritian Finance Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. They both said that the long-standing partnership between India and Mauritius had played a critical role in ensuring peace and stability in the Indian Ocean region. India has offered to provide assistance in terms of hydrographic surveys.

Sushma Swaraj also appreciated Jugnauth’s giving priority to visiting India on his first tour abroad, “which was in keeping with the very special ‘blood relationship’ between India and Mauritius”. Stating that India has always given full support to the development priorities of Mauritius, she said that both sides were finalizing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under which the Metro Express project and other projects announced by Jugnauth in his budget could begin to be implemented.

“The long-standing request from Mauritius for restarting negotiations of CECPA (Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement) and PTA (Preferential Trade Agreement) had also been met, with discussions on Monday.

Sushma Swaraj thanked Jugnauth for the “forward looking decision” which had allowed the protocol on the amendment of the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) and said this has added to Mauritius’s financial credentials. Pravind Jugnauth reiterated Mauritius’s consistent support for India’s candidature as a member in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council (UNSC).

In terms of people-to-people contacts, the two leaders discussed the construction of the World Hindi Secretariat in Mauritius. The External Affairs Minister invited significant participation from Mauritius in the forthcoming Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) 2017 to be held in Bengaluru.