Indian Ocean: Maldives, Mauritius in the spotlight dailynews.lk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailynews.lk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Economy > Trade
26 February 2021
India on Tuesday signed a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) with Mauritius, which is also the first trade agreement signed by India with an African nation.
The agreement is limited in scope, covering areas like trade in goods, rules of origin, trade in services, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, dispute settlement, movement of natural persons, telecom, financial services, customs procedures and cooperation in other areas.
Commerce secretary Anup Wadhawan and Ambassador Haymandoyal Dillum, secretary of foreign affairs, regional integration and international trade, Government of Mauritius signed the CECPA in Port Louis on Monday in the presence of Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth, and India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
Indian Ocean: Maldives, Mauritius in the spotlight msn.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from msn.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar met his Uzbekistan counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov on Thursday and discussed various bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that during Kamilov's two-day visit to New Delhi on February 24 and 25, both sides took stock of various aspects of bilateral cooperation between India and Uzbekistan.
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India in recent years has stepped up strategic outreach to its Indian Ocean partners. Both the Maldives and Mauritius have been key in pursuing India’s maritime security agenda. Thus, it was not a surprise that Indian Foreign Minister Dr. S Jaishankar went on a four-day visit to the Maldives and Mauritius February 20-23. The minister held high-level meetings in both countries, including with the defense and foreign ministers, underlining the strategic intent of the trip. Following his meeting with the Maldivian defense minister, Jaishankar tweeted that “India will always be a reliable security partner for Maldives.” He had a similar message on India’s ties with Mauritius, saying “Partners in security.” Extending defense lines of credit and maritime security were dominant in the discussions in both countries.