Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on a visit to Mauritius, an Indian Ocean Island country and a member of African Union from 11-12 March 2025. The visit is momentous, as Prime Minister Modi was invited to participate in the national day celebrations of the country as a chief guest. During the visit, several steps were taken to build closer ties. Prime Minister Modi was conferred with the highest national award of the country. In a special move, India and Mauritius elevated the partnership between the two countries to “enhanced strategic partnership.” The two countries signed a number of MOUs on cooperation in diverse areas, such as, local currency settlement system, credit facility to finance water projects, training programmes, sharing of white shipping information, dealing with financial crimes, blue economy and Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME). ^[1] Another significant development was the announcement of Vision MAHASAGAR, i.e., Mutual and Holistic Advancement of Security and Growth Across Regions. Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Mauritius will go a long way in strengthening India’s economic, security and cultural ties with this strategically significant country.

Mauritius, often referred as the ‘Star of Indian Ocean’ has a special significance for India. The two countries have a shared history with connections going back to the 18th century. Economically, the two countries have a robust relationship. India is one of the largest trading partners of Mauritius and the bilateral trade has grown from US$ 206.76 million in 2005-06 to US$ 851.13 million in 2023-24.^[2] The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) signed in 2021 is expected to boost the trade between the two countries further. This is the first free trade agreement signed by India with an African country. During the visit, an MoU was signed between the Central Bank of Mauritius and the Reserve Bank of India on local currency. Signing of the MoU will give a boost to the bilateral trade between the two countries. This move will simplify the trade process, reduce the transaction costs by cutting expenses that accompany payments made in foreign currencies and decrease the risk associated with foreign exchange rate fluctuations.

Over the years, India has developed a close development partnership with Mauritius. In the last decade, India has provided development assistance of around $1 billion to Mauritius.^[3] It has been involved in development of various projects like the Metro Express, ENT hospital, the Supreme Court building, housing units, e-tablets for school children, firefighting pumps, solar projects, Unified Payment Interface (UPI), RuPay card, medical clinics and infrastructure development at the Agalega islands. During COVID-19 pandemic, India shipped medicines and vaccines to the country.

Prime Minister Modi along with Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam, jointly inaugurated the Atal Bihari Institute for Public Service and Innovation built with Indian assistance. India also signed a Credit facility Agreement to finance water projects in Mauritius. One of the key features of India’s development partnership with African countries like Mauritius is that it is driven by Mauritian development priorities. Human resource development, training and capacity building has been an important pillar of India’s development partnership with Mauritius. During PM Modi’s visit, India signed two MoU’s towards training of Mauritian diplomats and public officers by the Foreign Service Institute of India and National Good Governance Centre of India, respectively. The two countries also signed an agreement on cooperation in the blue economy sector. Mauritius is the first African country to enunciate a blue economy policy and development of blue economy is a crucial priority for the country.^[4] This agreement will encourage closer cooperation between the two countries in ocean observance, research and information sharing. These agreements will enhance India’s development cooperation with the island country further.

Mauritius geographic location in the Western Indian Ocean Region (IOR) makes it a strategically important partner. It is located close to the key transit routes and important choke points like the Mozambique channel in the Indian Ocean region. Mauritius also holds an important place in India’s Indian Ocean strategy. As one of the prominent Indian Ocean country, India has a significant stake in stability, peace and security in the Indian Ocean region. India considers Mauritius as an important partner among the Indian Ocean littoral countries. During his visit to the country in 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged Mauritius’s role as “a key leader for a secure and sustainable future for the Indian Ocean.” He also announced his vision of Security and Growth for All (SAGAR) during this visit. The SAGAR vision sent the message to IOR that India was ready to ensure the safety, security and development of the region though a shared mechanism. In the last ten years, India has taken steps towards supporting the security and development objective of its Indian ocean region neighbours. During the current visit to Mauritius, coinciding with the tenth anniversary of SAGAR, Modi announced the SAGAR 2.0 vision called MAHASAGAR. Here India has called for mutual security and development across the Global South. This vision is not just limited to the Indian Ocean region but extends to all regions across the world. He also emphasised that Mauritius is at the heart of the MAHASAGAR vision, and that there is a need to enhance both development and security cooperation with the country.

There is no doubt that over the years, India and developed close security ties with Mauritius. This primarily involves training and capacity building, supply and maintenance of defence equipment. India’s relationship with Mauritius in the maritime security sphere is unique. India has extended support for enhancing the efficacy of Mauritian National Coast Guard (NCG) and the Maritime Air Squadron (MAS). It has supplied fast patrol vessels, helicopters and coastal radar surveillance system to the country to enhance the capacities of the Mauritian security forces.^[5] In 2021, India has offered $100 million Line of Credit to Mauritius for procurement of defence equipment.^[6] India has supported Mauritius in conducting hydrographic surveys of Mauritius long coastline. Recently, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sarvekshak, was deployed in Mauritius to conduct hydrographic surveys and train NCG personnel. Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR) is another area where Indian has supported Mauritius. For example, in 2020, India sent equipment and a technical response team of the Indian Coast Guard for dealing with an oil spill from M.V. Wakashio on the coast of Mauritius.^[7]

Given, the common maritime security challenges, of piracy and illegal fishing Indian navy has also been involved in joint patrolling of the island country’s vast Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Apart from Naval deployment, Indian Navy and Coastguard officers are regularly seconded to the Mauritian Coast Guard. Thereby, Mauritius benefits from long professional experience of Indian armed forces. Thus, India and Mauritius have developed a close cooperation to enhance mutual maritime safety and security. The MoU on sharing white shipping information, signed during PM’s visit will enhance the maritime safety and security of Mauritius and bilateral cooperation between the two countries in this sphere. Both countries also face non- traditional security challenges such as money laundering and other financial crimes. During the visit, an MoU was signed on dealing with financial crimes. This MoU primarily aims towards intelligence sharing and technical cooperation on anti-corruption and anti-money laundering activities.

India and Mauritius have a shared heritage and culture. The presence of a large Indian origin community provides an important socio- cultural linkage. Around 70 percent of the country’s residents, including Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, are of Indian origin. They are mainly descendants of the Indians brought in under the French rule in 1729 brought in for manual jobs, such as, masonry etc. and ,i>Girmitiyas,/i> (indentured labour) by the British between 1834-1900 to work on the sugar plantations. The Mauritian Indian origin community continues to observe Indian tradition and culture till date. This was evident during welcome that Prime Minister received at his arrival with a group of Mauritian women singing songs in Bhojpuri and youth performing Bharatnatyam and Kathak dances. The large gathering during PM Modi’s meeting with the Indian community highlighted this affinity. The display of civilizational and spiritual connect with Mauritius, was also visible as Prime Minister Modi offered prayers at sacred Ganga Talao, (commonly known as Grand Basin), a revered pilgrimage site in the region. To boost these links further, Prime Minister Modi unveiled a major project to map the Girmitiya migration and connect the migrants to their ancestral roots in India. Here it is clear that India has put in immense efforts to enhance relations with the Indian origin population in Mauritius. However, it is equally important that India builds ties with other ethnicities such as Creoles (African and mixed origin) and Franco- Mauritians.

In conclusion, Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Mauritius has elevated the ties with the country to an enhanced strategic partnership. This significant visit highlights, India’s approach to development and security cooperation with Global South that rests on the mutual priorities and concerns. Finally, Mr. Modi’s visit underlines the centrality of Mauritius in India’s vision of a stable, secure and open Indian Ocean Region.

References

^[1] ‘Transcript of Special Briefing by MEA on Prime Minister’s State Visit to Mauritius, March 12, 2025’ at https://www.mea.gov.in/outoging-visit-detail.htm?39163/
^[2] “India- Mauritius Relations” at https://www.mea.gov.in/Portal/ForeignRelation/UC.pdf
^[3] Transcript of Special Briefing by MEA on Prime Minister’s State visit to Mauritius March 08, 2025 at https://www.mea.gov.in/media-briefings.htm?dtl/39133/Transcript_of_Special_Briefing_by_MEA
^[4] Ruchita Beri, ‘Blue Economy: Towards India-Africa Cooperation’ Africa Trends, October - December, 2016 at https://www.idsa.in/publisher/africa-trends/blue-economy-towards-india-africa-cooperation/
^[5] ‘Visit of Defence Minister of India to Mauritius’ 10 December 2016 at
https://hcimauritius.gov.in/Whats?id=dPNwa#
^[6] Ruchita Beri, ‘New Momentum in India-Mauritius Ties’ March 30, 2021
IDSA Comments at https://www.idsa.in/publisher/comments/new-momentum-in-india-mauritius-ties/
^[7] ‘Oil spill: India sends technical assistance to Mauritius’ The Hindu 28 November 2021 at https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/oil-spill-india-sends-technical-assistance-to-mauritius/article61694940.ece

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