India, Mauritius discuss maritime cooperation

India and Mauritius on Sunday discussed maritime cooperation during a meeting between Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on the sidelines of the 11th World Hindi Conference here.

"Connecting with a maritime neighbour!" Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted following the meeting. Both leaders discussed how to deepen special ties between the two countries, Kumar said.

India and Mauritius agreed to cooperate in the Blue Economy sector in the Indian Ocean during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit here in 2015.

Around 68 per cent of Mauritius's population of nearly 1.3 million is of Indian descent. Many are descendants of Indian indentured labour brought to work on sugarcane plantations here in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Earlier on Sunday, Sushma Swaraj also met former Mauritian Prime Minister Paul Berenger.

Berenger conveyed his condolence on the demise of former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Sushma Swaraj then met Mauritian Opposition Leader Xavier Luc Duval.

"Good exchange of views on furthering cooperation between our two countries," the Indian spokesperson tweeted. "Relations between India and Mauritius span across the broad political spectrum."

As part of her engagements on the second day of the three-day conference that started on Saturday and is aimed at promoting Hindi, Sushma Swaraj inaugurated the Panini Language Laboratory at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute here in the presence of Education Minister of Mauritius Leela Devi Dookun and other dignitaries.

The lab, gifted by India, deploys ICT-enabled methods to teach Hindi.

--IANS

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