Mission Mauritius for Dy PM

The Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius, Charles Gaetan Xavier Luc Duval, is among those who are frequent visitors to the city and the country.

The Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius, Charles Gaetan Xavier Luc Duval, is among those who are frequent visitors to the city and the country. However, this time round his visit is more of a business nature — promote his country to the people of Delhi and apart from honeymoon couples, get as many tourists as possible to the island nation.

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Duval has a long association with the city. He visited it for the first time with his father – incidentally, he too was the Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius – way back in 1973. He went on to Khajuraho and then Kashmir for skiing. "So much has changed in the city and the country since then. The city has grown exponentially since then and the country is fast emerging as one of the leading nations of the world," said the DPM.

"Seventy percent of the population in our country trace their roots to various places in India. Most of them want at least once in their lifetime to see the country. We want to further promote this," said Duval who also has the charge of Tourism, leisure and external communications.

The DPM, however, has only one request to India – start a direct flight between Port Louis and New Delhi.

At present, the airline companies of India do not have any direct flight to Mauritius. "We had discussions with the Minister of Civil Aviation and we have been assured that a direct flight by an Indian airline company – government or private – would start soon," he said.