Yogi Adityanath to revisit history, attract investment in Mauritius
Yogi Adityanath’s visit will mark 183 years of the arrival of the first group of 36 Indian labourers on the island nation on November 2, 1834.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath will begin his three-day visit to Mauritius on Wednesday to attend the Regional Pravasi Bharatiya Divas and woo investors from the island nation that has a considerable number of people of Indian origin.
“Minister for external affairs Sushma Swaraj had requested Yogi to be the chief guest at the RPBD in Mauritius. The RPBDs are regularly organised outside India to connect with the Indian diaspora in specific regions,” said a senior officer of the state government.
Adityanath, who will fly to Port Louis from Mumbai, will also revisit history in the island nation where the descendants of the indentured Indian labourers called Girmitiyas live.
His visit will not only mark 183 years of the arrival of the first group of 36 Indian indentured labour on the island nation on November 2, 1834, but also 100 years of the British government’s decision to stop the experiment. The British shipped over two million indentured labourers to several plantation sites out of India.
The state government also wants to market Uttar Pradesh as a potential destination for investment, tourism, and cultural tourism through a ‘connect with your roots’ programmes in Mauritius, of which India is the largest trading partner and has been the largest exporter of goods and services to the island nation since 2007.
“We will make efforts to connect with them to attract investment, tourists and improve cultural ties,” said the officer.
The officers will also take material about the Divya Deepotsav that was organised a day before Diwali in Ayodhya on October 18. “This will help in connecting with the Girmitiyas,” said another officer.
Adityanath is also likely to extend an invitation to the diaspora to attend the third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas to be organised in Lucknow in early 2018.
Mauritius high commissioner to India J Goburdhun, while speaking at the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas at Agra in January 2016, said that the Girmitiyas were all sisters and brothers of the people of Uttar Pradesh.
The chief minister’s visit comes after his recent meeting with representatives of more than two dozen US companies exploring investment opportunities in the state.
Uttar Pradesh recently came up with an Industrial Investment and Employment Promotion Policy to create a framework to stabilise and make existing industries more competitive and to attract and realise new international and national investments in the industrial sector.
