The Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways, Thiru. T.R. Baalu, reached Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius this morning on a 2-day visit and was received by Mr. E. Sinatambou, Minister of Information Technology and Telecommunications and the High Commissioner of India in Mauritius Mr. B. Jai Shankar. Later, he met the senior Mauritian leaders including the Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam and the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Infrastructure, Land Transport and Shipping, Dr. Ahmed Rashid Beebeejaun. Thiru Baalu later also had a meeting with Mr. Madan Murlidhar Dulloo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Cooperation.
The various issues of mutual interest were discussed at these meetings which included procurement of one oil tanker of 50,000-55,000 DWT capacity in collaboration with the Government of India through the Shipping Corporation of India; training of Merchant Navy Officers and allocation of four stand alone slots for the Merchant Navy officers from Mauritius in Indian Training Institutions; and procurement of equipment for the Maritime Training Institute in Mauritius.
Earlier, in his meeting with the Mauritian Prime Minister, Thiru. Baalu said that Mauritius has managed to preserve exceptional social harmony in a multi-ethnic and pluralistic environment. He said that though Mauritius has brought about a successful economic transformation from a mono-crop agricultural colony to a vibrant economy, the level of economic and commercial ties between India and Mauritius has not been proportional to the richness and depth of their political and cultural relations. He stressed the need to strengthen the economic and commercial relations between the two countries.
The Union Minister informed that the a Joint Working Group comprising of officers of both the countries has been formally set up a few days ago to explore areas of cooperation between the two countries in the area of shipping and road transportation in general, and to sort out the above issues in particular. The Joint Working Group will go through these issues and will submit its Report by November-December, 2007.
Thiru. Baalu will be inaugurating the state of the art Mauritius Maritime Training Academy at Pointe aux Sables in Mauritius tomorrow.
VBA/
(Release ID :31932)