India and Seychelles today agreed to work together on a project to develop a naval base at the Assumption Island keeping each other’s concerns in mind after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Danny Faure.
India also announced a USD 100-million credit to Seychelles for augmenting its defence capabilities. “With this credit, Seychelles will be able to buy defence equipment to boost its maritime capacity,” Prime Minister Modi said in his joint media statement with Faure.
On the project to develop a naval facility at the island, which would give India a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region, Modi said, “We have agreed to work together on the Assumption Island project based on each other’s rights.”
Faure, in his remarks, said the Assumption Island project was discussed and the two countries equally engaged to work together bearing each other’s interests.
Six agreements were signed between India and Seychelles after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Seychelles President Danny Faure. Modi and Faure discussed about the cooperation in the key areas such as defence and security between the two nations at the Hyderabad House.
Ministry of External Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted, “Welcoming the esteemed guest at Hyderabad House! PM @narendramodi received the President of Seychelles Danny Antoine Rollen Faure for bilateral talks. Special ties with a maritime neighbour.”
Faure, who is on his first bilateral visit to India, was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the Rashtrapati Bhavan by President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Modi this morning. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting leader and discussed with him expanding bilateral cooperation in key areas, including capacity building and human resource development.
“Relationship which is deep-rooted & historical! EAM @SushmaSwaraj calls on President of #Seychelles Danny Faure in New Delhi. Good discussion on expanding bilateral cooperation in all areas, specially capacity building, human resource development and people-to-people contacts,” Kumar said in a tweet.
The Seychelles president had landed in Gujarat on Friday as part of his six-day India tour and visited the Sabarmati Ashram on Saturday, where Mahatma Gandhi lived between 1917 and 1930. Faure also visited the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, where he held a meeting with the Institute’s director Errol D’Souza.
After visiting Ahmedabad and Goa, he arrived in Delhi yesterday and was received by Minister of State for External Affairs M J Akbar. The visit comes just days after Faure said that a joint project with New Delhi to develop a naval base at Assumption Island in his country would not move forward.
There has been growing political opposition in Seychelles to an agreement it signed with India in 2015 to develop a naval facility at the island which would have given New Delhi a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region.