India and Mauritius have decided to elevate ties to enhanced strategic partnership: PM Modi

After a bilateral meeting in Port Louis, Prime Minister Modi said, “Today, Prime Minister Navin Chandra Ramgoolam and I decided to give the India Mauritius partnership the status of ‘enhanced strategic partnership’.”

“In the second phase of community development projects, new projects worth 500 million Mauritian rupees will be started. Five hundred civil servants from Mauritius will be trained in India in the next five years,” he said. “We decided that India will cooperate in building the new Parliament building in Mauritius. This will be a gift to Mauritius from the mother of democracy.”

The prime minister also outlined the vision for the Global South—MAHASAGAR, or Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions.

On the special occasion of Mauritius’ National Day, I had the opportunity to meet my good friend, PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam and discuss the full range of India-Mauritius friendship. We have decided to raise our partnership to an Enhanced Strategic Partnership.

We talked about… pic.twitter.com/DvNDUy7ML4

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 12, 2025

Mauritius PM Ramgoolam said, “Prime Minister of India and myself had very constructive discussions on how to take our bilateral relations to even greater heights. In this perspective, we have further agreed to strengthen our relations through a Mauritius-India joint vision document for an enhanced strategic partnership. Our shared vision is to increase our cooperation in existing and emerging sectors such as space, space research, artificial intelligence, digital health, ocean economy, pharmaceuticals, ICT, fintech and cybersecurity.”

Ramgoolam also expressed gratitude that India will continue to assist Mauritius in modernizing the health sector. “Our two countries will continue to reinforce trade relations through the comprehensive economic cooperation and partnership agreement and set up such innovative mechanisms that would further facilitate exchanges for our mutual benefit,” he said.

The two sides signed pacts on white-shipping, financial crimes, cross-border transactions, credit facility and ocean modelling.

This is Prime Minister Modi’s second state visit as the chief guest at Mauritius’s National Day Celebrations, after 2015.

An Indian naval ship will make a port call at Port Louis to celebrate the occasion. A marching contingent from the Indian Navy along with an Indian Navy helicopter, Akash Ganga Skydiving Team from the Indian Air force and a team of NCC cadets will also participate in the celebration.

This is a strategic outreach to the new leadership in Mauritius. Modi met Prime Minister Ramgoolam and President Dharam Gokhool on Tuesday as he began a two-day visit to the island nation.

The engagement with the new leadership is important in the context of the Indian government’s past involvement in developing infrastructure in Mauritius under the governments led by Anerood Jugnauth and Pravind Jugnauth.

The decision to develop infrastructure in Agalega Islands was taken during the tenure of the Jugnauths. Delhi is now making an effort to reach out to the government led by Ramgoolam. Mauritius has been ruled by the Ramgoolams and the Jugnauths ever since the country became independent in 1968.

For India, China’s increasing footprint in the Indian Ocean region has been a cause of concern, and it wants to work closely with island countries like Mauritius. Notably, Mauritius faced the devastating Cyclone Chido last year, particularly affecting Agalega. India managed to mobilise its naval assets and utilise the facilities created in Agalega to deliver assistance and relief material.