India Reiterates Mauritius’ Centrality to Its Indian Ocean Region Strategy – The Diplomat

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Mauritius on March 11 and 12 saw the two governments elevate their bilateral relationship to an “enhanced strategic partnership.”

According to the Joint Vision for an Enhanced Strategic Partnership, India and Mauritius will “counter growing threats and challenges in the region.” They will “continue cooperation on provisioning defense and maritime assets and equipment” in keeping with “the needs and priorities of Mauritius,” step up “maritime cooperation through increased deployment of ships and aircraft for joint maritime surveillance and hydrography surveys,” and secure Mauritius’ exclusive economic zone (EEZ), “including through enhanced utilization of [the] newly built runway and jetty at Agalega.” In addition, India will assist Mauritius set up a National Maritime Information Sharing Center to improve maritime domain awareness, and provide “customized training and capacity-building initiatives” for the Mauritius Police Force. The two governments also agreed to collaborate in marine operations and engineering, as well as port safety, emergency response, and security.

India and Mauritius reaffirmed that “defense cooperation and maritime security are key pillars” of the bilateral partnership. In addition to providing Mauritius with helicopters, ships, aircraft, and fast interceptor boats, India has extended Mauritius lines of credit for the purchase of Indian defense equipment. It has helped Mauritius set up its Coastal Surveillance Radar System. In 2024, the two countries jointly inaugurated an India-funded and built 3-kilometer-long airstrip and a jetty at Agalega island at a cost of $192 million.

India and Mauritius share a close relationship. There are strong historical, kinship, and cultural bonds between the two countries. People of Indian origin, descendants of those taken from India as indentured labor to Mauritius during French and British colonial rule, comprise nearly 70 percent of the island’s 1.2 million population.

Economic ties are strong; not only is Mauritius among the top sources of foreign direct investment into India but also trade is robust. India has been among Mauritius’ top trade partners, and trade turnover is poised to grow with the two countries signing the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement in 2021. India has also been Mauritius’ first responder in times of crisis, whether during pandemics, cyclones, or oil spills.

“The sheer depth, scale and expanse of India’s engagement with Mauritius indicates the latter’s importance to New Delhi,” a former Indian security official told The Diplomat. Mauritius figures among India’s top five recipients of foreign aid, he pointed out.

During Modi’s visit, the two countries signed eight Memorandums of Understanding, relating to trade in local currencies, a credit facility arrangement to finance water infrastructure projects, training of public officials, sharing of maritime data, collaboration in combating financial crimes, and cooperation in the micro, small, and medium enterprises sector. Modi also announced that India would build Mauritius’ new parliament building and assist it in implementing several development projects.

So why is Mauritius important to India?

While kinship and cultural ties provide an important foundation to the bilateral relationship, it is Mauritius’ strategic location in the southwest Indian Ocean and near key international sea lanes linking Europe and West Africa with Asia via the Cape of Good Hope that has driven India’s interest in the island nation for decades. And this interest in Mauritius has deepened over the past decade, in the context of China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and rising influence in Mauritius.

To counter this, India has been building ties with IOR littoral states, and sees Mauritius as its foremost partner in this endeavor. Reaffirming “a shared commitment to ensure a free, open, safe and secure Indian Ocean Region,” Modi and Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam asserted that the two countries “are natural partners in the region.”

India has repeatedly underscored the importance it accords Mauritius in its IOR strategy. At the Mauritius capital of Port Louis, Modi announced India’s new and enhanced vision for the Global South — “MAHASAGAR” or Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions. The MAHASAGAR vision builds on the SAGAR or Security and Growth for All in the Region policy, which Modi unveiled in Mauritius in 2015.

That India chose Mauritius to unveil both the SAGAR policy, which acted as a bedrock of India’s engagement with the IOR over the past decade, and the MAHASAGAR policy, which will guide India’s strategy in the IOR in the coming years, underscores Mauritius’ centrality to India’s regional strategy.

This centrality will “increase manifold,” should sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago, currently under British control, be returned to Mauritius, the former Indian security official said.

Lying roughly 1,600 kilometers to the northeast of the main island of Mauritius, the Chagos archipelago is just 500 km to the south of Maldives’ Addu atoll. While the main island of Mauritius lies in the western Indian Ocean, Chagos is situated in the central Indian Ocean.

Under an agreement reached with Ramgoolam’s predecessor, Pravind Jugnauth, the United Kingdom announced in October 2024 that it would hand over sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius but retain control over Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease (with an option for a 40-year extension) to allow the continued operation of the U.S. military base there.

Amid uncertainty over the agreement — Ramgoolam has called for reopening talks with the U.K. to revisit the deal, and the position of the U.S. under Donald Trump is unclear — India, which has long supported Mauritius’ sovereignty claims over the Chagos archipelago, has thrown its weight behind Mauritius. “We fully respect Mauritius’ sovereignty in the context of Chagos,” Modi said.

While India’s support to Mauritius’ sovereignty claims over Chagos has traditionally been based on its “principled position of support to decolonization, it should do a rethink,” the former Indian security official said.

While India should continue to support Chagos’ return to Mauritius, opposing the U.S. base at Diego Garcia may not serve India’s interests in the IOR, especially in the context of its own improving relations with Washington and amid the threat of a rising Chinese presence in the Indian Ocean, .

If its security interests in the Indian Ocean are indeed better served with a continued U.S. military presence at Diego Garcia, would Modi have quietly advised Ramgoolam to go along with the October 2024 deal with the U.K. and not roil the waters too much?