India, Mauritius to enable bilateral trade in local currencies: PM Modi

India and Mauritius will work on using local currencies for trade, Prime Minister Modi said after talks with Mauritian PM Ramgoolam. India also supported Mauritius' sovereignty over Chagos Islands and promised to strengthen maritime security in the Indian Ocean region

Varanasi: India and Mauritius will work towards enabling bilateral trade in local currencies, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday after holding wide-ranging talks with his Mauritian counterpart Navinchandra Ramgoolam. In his remarks to the media, Modi, delving into close ties between the two nations, said India and Mauritius are two countries, but their dreams and destiny are one.

The Prime Minister said that a free, open, secure, stable and prosperous Indian Ocean is a shared priority of both India and Mauritius. “In this context, India is fully committed to strengthening the security and maritime capacity of Mauritius’ Exclusive Economic Zone,” he said. “India has always stood as the first responder and a net security provider in the Indian Ocean region,” he added.

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Modi also congratulated Ramgoolam and the people of Mauritius on the conclusion of the Chagos agreement, describing it as a “historic victory” for the island nation’s sovereignty. “India has always supported decolonisation and the full recognition of Mauritius’s sovereignty. And in this, India has stood firmly with Mauritius,” he said.

In May, the United Kingdom decided to hand over the sovereignty of Chagos Islands, including tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, to Mauritius under a historic deal. The UK is giving up the rights of the islands after more than 50 years. Under the agreement, the UK will have full responsibility for security of strategically-located Diego Garcia.

Ramgoolam is currently on a state visit to India from September 9 to 16. It is Ramgoolam’s first overseas bilateral visit to India in his present term. He will also visit Ayodhya and Tirupati. Prime Minister Modi visited Mauritius in March.