NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a virtual interaction with his Mauritius counterpart Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Thursday, hailed the completion of the India-led social housing project in the island nation. He said more such projects are in the pipeline.
“We are glad to be associated with this important effort to provide affordable houses to the common people of Mauritius. We are also initiating two other projects that are critical to nation-building. These include a state-of-the-art civil service college that will help in skilling government officers and a 8 megawatt solar PV farm project, which will help mitigate the climate challenges that Mauritius faces as an island country,” Modi said.
“I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action,” the Indian Prime Minister said. The agreement on small development projects exchanged on Thursday will deliver high-impact projects at the community level across Mauritius. In the coming days, India will also assist Mauritius in several important projects including a renal transplant unit, forensic science laboratory, national library and archives, a police academy and others.
During the last five years, India has been among the leading trading partners of Mauritius. In 2020, India contributed 10% of Mauritius total imports and ranked third among their countries of imports. The value of exports from India to Mauritius was $1,027 million in 2018, $776 million in 2019 and $396 million in 2020. The value of Mauritian export to India was $24 million in 2019 and $32 million in 2020.
An agreement was reached on extending a $190 million line of credit from India to Mauritius for the metro project. Prime Minister Jugnauth announced that the major metro station in their country will be named after Mahatma Gandhi. “India and Mauritius are united by history, ancestry, culture, language and the shared waters of the Indian Ocean. Today, our robust development partnership has emerged as a key pillar of our close ties,” said Modi.