India and Mauritius explore collaboration in def, security

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Tuesday met visiting Finance Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth. She appreciated Jugnauth for giving priority to visiting India on his first tour abroad which was in keeping with the “very special blood relationship” between India and Mauritius, official sources said. She said India has always given full support to the development priorities of Mauritius.

We are finalising the MoU under which the Metro Express project and other projects announced by Jugnauth in his budget could begin to be implemented, sources said. The long-standing request from Mauritius for restarting negotiations on CECPA and PTA (trade agreement) had also been met with discussions held on Monday in Port Louis, they added. Swaraj thanked Jugnauth for the forward looking decision which had made the protocol on amendment of the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) possible.