“The leaders also discussed ways to expand further cooperation in areas of Blue Economy and collaboration in Africa.”

Earlier, delivering the keynote address as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the PBD here, Mr Jugnauth lauded India’s economic growth under Mr Modi and commended New Delhi’s efforts to reach out to the Indian diaspora across the world. He also announced that Mauritius is going to organise a Bhojpuri Mahotsav.

Around 68 per cent of Mauritius’s total population of over 1.2 million comprises people of Indian origin. Most of them are descendants of indentured labour taken from India between 1834 and the early decades of the 20th century. The Mauritian PM received Minister for Commerce and Industry Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi. “The Minister reiterated that India accords great importance to the steady development of umbilical relations between our two countries,” the External Affairs Ministry statement said. Mr Prabhu too noted that the early finalisation of the CECPA would pave the way for giving a strong impetus to the close bilateral economic partnership. Later External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting dignitary in Varanasi.

“She noted that India-Mauritius bilateral cooperation was comprehensive and multi-faceted and that our bonds date back centuries,” the statement said. “Our close multifaceted relations have steadily developed over the years, based on the secure foundations of kinship and family ties, and of shared values of democracy, tolerance, peace and development,” it stated.