India has announced an economic package which includes a line of credit of $250 million and a grant of $20 million to Mauritius with whom it has traditionally enjoyed warm and friendly ties. The announcement was made here on Tuesday evening in a joint statement issued after delegation-level talks between India and Mauritius. Mauritius PM Navinchandra Ramgoolam is currently visiting India and met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who also hosted a banquet in his honour this evening. The two leaders earlier discussed issues of bilateral, regional and international importance when they met on Tuesday.
Apart from the line of credit, the two sides also signed a slew of agreements and MoUs here on Tuesday evening. Among the MoUs signed between the two sides is one that will provide a frame-work for cooperation in the field of science and technology. Yet another MoU will enable cooperation in the field of sports research, while a third MoU is aimed at developing synergy to address the challenges globalisation has brought as well as consolidate the textile and clothing industry of both countries.
Speaking about the economic package for Mauritius, Dr Singh said, “India has been a long-standing development partner of Mauritius.”
India will also provide Mauritius with a grant of $20 million. Part of this grant is to be sued for setting up a hybrid planetarium at the Rajiv Gandhi Science Centre in Mauritius.
As for the implementation of the India-Mauritius Double Taxation Avoida-nce Convention, Dr Singh said, “Both India and Mauritius have a mutual interest in ensuring that there is no misuse of the convention. We are happy that the Joint Working Group on this convention has resumed its work and held a meeting recently in Port Louis in December 2011. We have directed our officials to continue their work towards finding a mutually acceptable and satisfactory solution to the issues that concern us at the earliest.”
The areas of defence and security were described as “one of the key pillars of our relationship” by Dr Singh. “We both have common security interests. India will continue to support Mauritius in ensuring the security and sovereignty of its land and maritime territory,” he said.