The CNS Mauritius Prime Minister meeting in Port Louis on Wednesday ended with an assurance of continued Indian naval support for the island's maritime forces, as Admiral Krishna Swaminathan called on Dr Navinchandra Ramgoolam on the third day of his visit.

The High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, Anurag Srivastava, was present at the call.

Admiral Swaminathan conveyed the Indian Navy's full support and cooperation for building up the Mauritius Police Force and its National Coast Guard, the Navy said, across maritime security cooperation, training exchanges, information sharing and the operational linkages that connect the two services.


The CNS Mauritius Prime Minister talks and a first visit as chief

The CNS Mauritius Prime Minister meeting came on the third day of a four day official visit to Mauritius, running from 10 to 13 August. It is Admiral Swaminathan's first to the country since he took charge as the 27th Chief of the Naval Staff on 31 May.

Two days of meetings before the call

A day earlier the Navy chief had met the Commissioner of Police, Rampersad Sooroojebally, and the Secretary for Home and Defence Affairs, Kan Oye Fong Weng-Poorun. Those talks on the Coast Guard turned on joint surveillance of the Mauritian Exclusive Economic Zone.

The Coast Guard at the centre of the partnership

The National Coast Guard is the naval wing of the Mauritius Police Force and reports to the Commissioner of Police rather than to a standing military. That arrangement explains the run of interlocutors the CNS met over three days, from the police chief and the home secretary through to the Prime Minister himself.

India has trained and equipped the force for years, and the Indian Navy remains its principal partner from outside the island.

Training, patrols and surveys

The two navies work together through regular training exchanges, joint patrols of Mauritian waters, port calls and hydrographic surveys. Indian personnel have served on the island to help run platforms supplied by New Delhi.

Mauritius in India's Indian Ocean framework

New Delhi places the relationship inside its MAHASAGAR vision, short for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions, its approach to cooperation among Indian Ocean states. Mauritius has joined a range of India led maritime engagements over the years, among them the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, the MILAN exercise, the Goa Maritime Conclave, IOS SAGAR and Exercise AIKEYME.

Indian warships call at Port Louis through the year, most recently when INS Tarkash completed a port call in Mauritius.

The visit concludes on Thursday.