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India inks 5 pacts with Mauritius
To forge stronger “security ties” with Mauritius, India on Saturday signed an agreement with its strategic partner for supplying a $58.5 million Offshore Patrol Vessel to help enhance its coastal security capabilities and effectively deal with pirates.
To forge stronger “security ties” with Mauritius, India on Saturday signed an agreement with its strategic partner for supplying a $58.5 million Offshore Patrol Vessel to help enhance its coastal security capabilities and effectively deal with pirates.
The deal was inked here in presence of Mauritius Prime Minister Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam and External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna, who arrived here as part of his five-day visit to Mauritius, Mozambique and Seychelles.
India signed four more agreements on Saturday that include supply of an early warning system on coastal hazards like tsunami, programme for cultural cooperation and exchange of information and technology on cyber security.
After the agreement on patrol vessel, Krishna described India’s ties with Mauritius as “crucial and critical” and said both nations were needed to mount joint efforts to put a check on pirates in the western Indian Ocean region. He said there was a need for greater cooperation between the two nations for maintaining “peace and tranquility” in the region.
Following his 30-minute meeting with Krishna at the Prime Minister’s Official residence in Vacos, Ramgoolam said his country needed full cooperation from India and had always been getting it.
“In light of whatever is happening in the region, we need to be better equipped to face challenges from pirates and possible terrorist threats,” he said.
