Extending all support for ensuring its security and sovereignty, India on Thursday asked Mauritius to join hands in mutually beneficial economic cooperation.
"India and Mauritius are inextricably knit together by abiding bonds of friendship. We hold the well being and development of Mauritius as among our highest foreign policy priorities.
"India will support Mauritius in ensuring the security and sovereignty of its land and maritime territory," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said addressing the Mauritian National Assembly on the second day of his visit to the island nation.
He offered help to Mauritius in establishing the institutions of excellence on the lines of best technology and medical institutions available in India.
Similar collaborative measures were possible in health, pharmaceutical, education, finance and management and small and medium enterprises, the prime minister said.
Singh said even as Mauritius deepens its economic linkages with neighbouring markets, "We see our economic relationship with Mauritius as a mutually beneficial partnership which will enable both our countries to benefit from an expanding circle of economic relationships."
Observing that India and Mauritius were both affected by the winds of changes due to globalisation, the prime minister said, "We need to prepare ourselves to meet these new challenges."
This, he said provided the two countries to engage in mutually beneficial economic cooperation whereby "we can build on our complimentary stance to achieve our common goal of building prosperous societies."
Singh said the proposed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement between the two countries would turn a new leaf in the bilateral ties.
"We have accepted the recommendations of the joint study group and have agreed to constitute an empowered negotiating team to translate these into reality", he said.
Singh, who is on a four-day visit to this picturesque island nation, said he hoped the 'Free Trade Agreement' around which this partnership agreement was to be anchored becomes the harbinger of a deeper economic relationship between the two countries.
Lauding the remarkable success of Mauritian democratic experience, Singh said that both countries should lead the way in showing history and humankind that pluralism works, that pluralism is the order of the day and that in embracing pluralism we embrace global security.
"We live in a world where pluralism is buffeted by forces which are inimical to peaceful coexistence and harmonious relationships within societies," he said adding India and Mauritius, through the rich and successful experience of managing diversity and pluralism in an inclusive framework, stand out as beacons of hope for the future.
Turning to international affairs, Singh said both countries believed that the United Nations is the critical link in cooperative multilateral efforts to manage the challenges of global interdependence.
India has the will and the capacity to be a permanent member of the Security Council, he said adding, "Our membership will enhance the Security Council's effectiveness, credibility and legitimacy."
He appreciated the consistent stand taken by Mauritius in support of New Delhi's candidature as permanent member of the UN Security Council.
The prime minister said partnership between India and Mauritius is vital to meeting the multifarious challenges of the new millennium and that the catastrophic effects of the tsunami on December 26 last year brought into sharp focus the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States and low lying coastal areas to natural disasters.
"We thank Mauritius for its solidarity and support extended to the victims of the Tsunami," he said.
He was 'happy' to note that Mauritius will be one of the countries of the African Union to be connected by the proposed seamless and integrated satellite and fibre optic network to be provided by India at an initial cost of $50 million.
