INDIA’S INDEPENDENCE DAY EVENING RECEPTION (15 AUGUST 2023)

H.E. Prithvirajsing Roopun, President of the Republic of Mauritius,

Hon. Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister of the Republic of Mauritius,

Hon. Alan Ganoo, Minister of Land Transport & Light Rail; Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration & International Trade,

Honorable Ministers,

Honorable Members of the National Assembly,

Colleagues from the Diplomatic Corps,  

Esteemed Guests and dear friends,

Good evening, Namaskar, Bon Soir!

D'abord, je souhaite a vous tous, une tres bonne fete de l'Assomption! Happy Assumption and a warm welcome to everyone! As you can see, we have tried to keep the festive spirit with fun and games outside, and I am counting on our Master of Ceremonies to add a fun element to this ceremony too! So, first things first – please make sure that you eat well, play well and take pictures of yourselves loaded with prizes at our photo booths – and for the ladies, I assure you that the henna dries very quickly; so let that not stop you from having fun! And if you visit our Yoga, Ayurveda, Vastu and Astrology stalls for health and wellness tips, I promise that you will all go back not only well-fed and happy - but also healthy, wealthy and wise!

2.   Like this evening, the year that has gone by has also been an exciting and fun-filled year for the India-Mauritius relationship, since we celebrated the 75^th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. Many of you joined us in our two week-long Festivals in August and December last year – Maitri Parv and Jashn-e-Dosti, which included an Art Festival showcasing 75 artworks by 75 Mauritian artists; Festivals of Food, Dance, Music, Theatre etc. We intend to close the commemorations in the coming months with some more festivities and the launch of a joint postal stamp.

3.   Before you think that we were only having fun and games the whole year, you would be happy to know that the 75^th year of our diplomatic relationship saw several new milestones, making it a truly historic year for both our countries. For the first time in history, India took over the Presidency of the G-20 and showed how special Mauritius is to India, by inviting Mauritius as a Special Invitee to the G-20. We greatly look forward to the honour of receiving the Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Pravind Jugnauth in India in a few weeks, to attend the G20 Summit.

4.   Mauritius also showed how special India is, by sending the world’s largest Ministerial delegation and second-largest country delegation to the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, India’s flagship diaspora event. The presence of more than 500 Mauritian delegates attested to the enduring strength of our historical bonds.

5.   Both our countries together showed how special this relationship is, by exchanging more than 30 delegations and signing 23 bilateral Agreements in just the last 12 months! These included the visits of H.E. President Prithvirajsing Roopun, 14 Mauritian Ministers, the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the Foreign Secretary of India, among others. Interestingly, for the very first time, 5 newly recruited Indian diplomats also visited Mauritius as part of their training! Among the 23 Agreements signed, one was a G2G MOU to facilitate the inflow of Indian workers into Mauritius to address the urgent requirement of labour. Another was a 4-year Program of Cultural Cooperation. A third MoU was between the Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation and India’s Prasar Bharti for audiovisual cooperation.

6.   On the economic side, I am happy to share that Mauritian exports under our Preferential Trade Agreement CECPA grew from zero Mauritian exports in the year 2021 (when CECPA was introduced) to 1 million US Dollars in 2022 and an additional 2 million US dollars in just the first 6 months of this year, amounting to a total of 3 million US  dollars of Mauritian exports to India already, under CECPA. I am sure this will further increase with the 9 events organized this year to promote CECPA, including the high-level CECPA FORUM where the Honorable Prime Minister launched the logo of our 75^th anniversary celebrations. I also hope that our bilateral trade will receive a further boost with the setting up of the Special Rupee Vostro Account Facility last December, enabling for the first time, Mauritian and Indian traders to settle their cross-border financial transactions in Indian Rupees.

7.   Apart from these, what is heartening Ladies & Gentlemen, is that at the ground level, several new development projects helped enhance the quality of life of all Mauritians. For instance, for the first time, we launched 98 community development projects all across Mauritius, such as soccer playgrounds, jogging tracks, solar powered street lights etc. and I am happy to tell you that 16 such projects are already underway. The flagship Metro project also saw two new extensions: from Phoenix to Curepipe, and from Rose Hill to Reduit, along with the construction of the iconic Mahatma Gandhi station at Reduit. 5 Indian Navy ships visited Mauritius this year; they participated in the celebrations of Aaparavasi Divas and the Mauritian National Day; undertook a Hydrography survey; and helped evacuate hazardous material onboard a grounded Taiwanese boat off St. Brandon. A new Advanced Light Helicopter DHRUV was also commissioned under a Line of Credit. Only four days ago, H.E. the President of Mauritius , inaugurated an Ayurveda Garden at the State House in Reduit containing over 60 Ayurvedic herbs – the first such Ayurveda garden in a Presidential residence, anywhere in the world!

8.   Looking ahead, we have yet another exciting phase! We have finalized the design of the first-of-its-kind Global Ayurvedic Centre of Excellence that will be built in Cote d’Or with Indian assistance. The Centre will not only have an Ayurvedic Hospital; it will also have research and teaching facilities and serve as a relaxing retreat for Mauritians and tourists looking for rejuvenation and natural healing. You would be happy to know that the 8 MW solar power project in Henrietta is almost complete and will be inaugurated very soon. Several new projects will be ready for inauguration in the coming year, before our next National Day - such as the new Civil Services College in Reduit, the Renal Transplant Unit at the Jawaharlal Nehru Hospital, a Mediclinic in Grand Bois and 2 Area Health Centres in New Grove & Cap Malheureux. Work on the Mauritius Police Academy and the National Library & Archives will also commence shortly. To advance our partnership in combating climate change, we are also looking at partnering in replacing 200 diesel buses in Mauritius, with eco-friendly electric buses. We will also be launching the Indian Rupay Card and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system shortly in Mauritius to enable Mauritian and Indian tourists and visitors to make debit card/credit card payments using their local Mauritian and Indian cards, without having to exchange currency. We hope that this will encourage more shopping and spending in both our countries! With India’s Moon Mission now in the news, I am delighted to share that we will also be jointly producing an Indo-Mauritian satellite for Mauritius, to support earth and maritime observation, weather forecasting and capacity building.

9.   Excellencies, Ladies & Gentlemen, as you can see, our robust G2G partnership continues to strengthen. It is particularly heartening that our close People-to-People ties are also growing closer, in parallel. In the last 12 months alone, for instance, 362 Mauritians received free training in India (almost one every day); 87 Mauritians received Indian educational scholarships; and nearly 100 Mauritian youngsters visited India to participate in various youth Programmes. In fact, right now, as I speak, we have 21 Mauritian youngsters in New Delhi as part of the Know India Program and Bharat ko Janiye Yatra; they were at the Red Fort in New Delhi this morning, celebrating India’s Independence Day with our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi! Our growing people-to-people connect is evident in other ways too: our High Commission issued 1,200 Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards to Mauritians this year (which is double that of last year); there was a 71% increase in Indian tourists to Mauritius over the previous year; there were two blockbuster Bollywood movies filmed in Mauritius last year and a big-budget action film by the famous film Director Rohit Shetty will begin shooting in two months; 105 Mauritians were honoured with Hindi Sewa Samman Awards for their contribution to hindi promotion and 4000 free books on India were distributed across the island last year.  The start of a new Indian airline - Air Vistara - with 5 more flights per week to Mumbai, as well as the resumption of flights to New Delhi by Air Mauritius; show that this partnership is set to soar greater heights and scale new horizons - because for India-Mauritius relations, the sky is not the limit!

10.   This elevation in our bilateral relations has only been possible on the wings of the extraordinary support extended by H.E. Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and the Government of Mauritius; I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to the Honorable Prime Minister, on behalf of the government of India. I am also thankful to all our dear Mauritian friends, socio-cultural organisations and well-wishers who have worked closely with us to strengthen this partnership; I see many of you here! I thank you all for making this evening memorable with your esteemed presence.

11.   And finally, a big thank you to my outstanding team in the High Commission of India and the Indira Gandhi Cultural Centre for all their hard work in advancing this privileged partnership and their enthusiasm in making this National Day celebration as special as our relationship!

Jai Hind!

Vive Maurice!

Long Live India-Mauritius friendship!