The visit of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mauritius on March 11 and 12 saw the two governments raising their bilateral relationship with an “improved strategic partnership”.
According to the joint vision of an improved strategic partnership, India and Mauritius “counter threats and growing challenges in the region”. They will “continue cooperation on the supply of maritime assets and equipment and equipment” in accordance with “needs and priorities of Mauritius”, intensify “maritime cooperation thanks to increased deployment of ships and planes for maritime surveillance and joint and hydrography surveys”, and secure the use of Mauritius [the] Newly built track and thrown in Agalega. “In addition, India will help Mauritius to create a national maritime information sharing center to improve awareness of the maritime field and provide” personalized training and strengthening initiatives “for the Mauritius police forces. The two governments also agreed to collaborate in marine operations and engineering, as well as the safety of ports, emergency interventions and security.
India and Mauritius have reaffirmed that “defense cooperation and maritime security are key pillars” of the bilateral partnership. In addition to providing Mauritius with helicopters, ships, rapid interceptors, India has extended Maurice credit lines for the purchase of Indian defense equipment. He helped Maurice install his coastal surveillance radar system. In 2024, the two countries jointly inaugurated a 3 -kilometer landing track funded by India and a pier on the island of Agalega at a cost of $ 192 million.
India and Mauritius share a close relationship. There are strong historical, kinship and cultural links between the two countries. People of Indian origin, descendants of those taken from India, such as contract under contract in Mauritius during French and British colonial domination, represent almost 70% of the population of 1.2 million on the island.
Economic ties are strong; Mauritius is not only among the main sources of foreign direct investment in India, but also trade is robust. India was among Mauritius’ main trade partners, and commercial turnover is about to grow with the two countries signing complete economic cooperation and the partnership agreement in 2021. India was also the first answering machine in crisis, whether during pandemics, cyclones or oil spills.
“The pure depth, scale and extent of India’s engagement with Mauritius indicate the importance of the latter for New Delhi,” a former Indian security official in the diplomat. Mauritius is one of the five main recipients of India for foreign aid, he said.
During Modi’s visit, the two countries signed eight understanding of understanding, concerning trade in local currencies, a credit facility agreement to finance water infrastructure projects, training of civil servants, the sharing of maritime data, collaboration in the fight against financial crimes and cooperation in the micro, small and medium -sized business sector. Modi also announced that India would build the new building in the Mauritius Parliament and would help it to implement several development projects.
So why is Maurice important for India?
Although kinship and cultural ties provide an important basis for the bilateral relationship, it is Mauriti’s strategic place in the Southwest Indian Ocean and near the main international seaways connecting Europe and West Africa to Asia via the CAP of good hope that has aroused India’s interest in the island nation for decades. And this interest in Mauritius has deepened in the past decade, in the context of the growing presence of China in the Indian Ocean region (IOR) and the growing influence in Mauritius.
To counter this, India has built links with the coastal states and considers Maurice as its first partner in this company. The reaffirmation “of a shared commitment to ensure a region of the free, open and secure Indian Ocean”, Modi and the Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgolam said that the two countries “are natural partners in the region”.
India has repeatedly stressed the importance it attaches to Mauritius in its IOR strategy. In the capital Maurice de Port Louis, Modi announced the new and improved vision of India for the world South – “Mahasagar” or mutual and holistic progress for safety and growth between regions. Mahasagar’s vision is based on the sagar or security and growth for all in regional policy, which Modi unveiled in Mauritius in 2015.
The fact that India has chosen Mauritius to reveal both sagar’s policy, which has acted as a foundation of India’s engagement with IOR in the last decade, and Mahasagar’s policy, which will guide India’s strategy in the IOR in the coming years, underlines the centrality of Mauritius to the regional strategy of India.
This centrality “will increase the collector”, if sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago, currently under British control, be returned to Mauritius, said the former Indian security official.
About 1,600 kilometers northeast of the main island of Mauritius, the Chagos archipelago is just 500 km south of the Addu of the Maldives. While the main island of Mauritius is in the west of the Indian Ocean, Chagos is located in the Central Indian Ocean.
Under an agreement concluded with the predecessor of Ramgolam, Pravind Jugnauth, the United Kingdom announced in October 2024 that it would return control of the Chagos archipelago in Maurice but would retain control of Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease (with an option for an extension of 40 years) to allow the continuous operation of the American military.
In the midst of uncertainty about the agreement – Ramgolam called for the reopening of talks with the United Kingdom to review the agreement, and the position of the United States under Donald Trump is not clear – India, which has long supported the demands of Maurice’s sovereignty on the Chagos archipelago, threw its weight behind Maurice. “We fully respect Maurice’s sovereignty in the context of Chagos,” said Modi.
Although India’s support for Mauritius’s sovereignty of sovereignty on Chagos is traditionally based on his “support position for the principles of support for decolonization, he should make a redesigned,” said the former Indian security official.
While India should continue to support the return of Chagos to Mauritius, the opposition to the American base of Diego Garcia may not serve the interests of India in the IOR, in particular in the context of its own relations with Washington and in the threat of a growing Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean.
If its safety interests in the Indian Ocean are indeed better served with a continuous American military presence in Diego Garcia, Modi would have silently advised Ramgoolam to follow the October 2024 agreement with the United Kingdom and not to drive the waters too much?