Mauritius National Coast Guard capacity building anchored a round of talks in Port Louis this week, with Admiral Krishna Swaminathan, the Chief of the Naval Staff, meeting India's High Commissioner to Mauritius and the island's senior police and home affairs leadership, the Indian Navy said.

His interlocutors were Anurag Srivastava, the High Commissioner of India to Mauritius, Rampersad Sooroojebally, Commissioner of Police of the Mauritius Police Force, and Kan Oye Fong Weng-Poorun, Secretary for Home and Defence Affairs in the Government of Mauritius.

The talks turned on maritime security cooperation, defence cooperation, joint surveillance of the exclusive economic zone and closer operational linkages between the two maritime forces.


Why the Mauritius National Coast Guard sits under the police

The choice of interlocutors was not incidental. The National Coast Guard is the naval wing of the Mauritius Police Force, a specialised branch that answers to the Commissioner of Police rather than to a separate defence ministry, which is why Adm Krishna Swaminathan's schedule paired the Commissioner with the Secretary who handles home and defence affairs.

India has trained and equipped the Mauritius National Coast Guard for years, and much of the day to day cooperation the two sides point to runs through it.

The maritime security agenda

On the security side, the two navies want tighter joint patrolling of the exclusive economic zone off Mauritius, a stretch of ocean many times the island's land area, and a build out of the operational links that let ships and aircraft from both sides work to the same picture. Capacity building of the Coast Guard, from training to keeping equipment at sea, ran alongside that.

The Indian Navy called the partnership close and enduring.

The MAHASAGAR frame

New Delhi placed the visit within Vision MAHASAGAR, short for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions, the phrase it now uses for its outreach across the Indian Ocean. The Navy tied the engagement to a shared commitment to a secure and stable Indian Ocean Region.

An early Indian Ocean marker for the new Navy Chief

Adm Krishna Swaminathan took charge as the 27th Chief of the Naval Staff on 31 May 2026, succeeding Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi. The Mauritius trip, which runs from 10 to 13 August, is among his first overseas engagements in the job.

The Navy had announced the four day visit to Mauritius at the start of the week, describing it as an effort to deepen bilateral maritime cooperation.

A steady Indian presence off Mauritius

INS Tarkash completed a port call in Mauritius earlier in 2026 before continuing into the south west Indian Ocean, one of a run of visits that have kept Indian ships in the island's waters through the year.

Mauritius also takes part in the Indian Navy led gatherings that stitch the region together, among them the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, the MILAN exercise and the Goa Maritime Conclave.