PM to visit 3 ocean economies on five-day tour, leaves today

Focusing on ocean economies in the neighbourhood, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin a five-day tour of Seychelles, Mauritius and Sri lanka from Tuesday. This will be PM’s first outing in the new year.  Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said India’s commercial ties have grown significantly with these three ocean economies and that they offered new possibilities of cooperation. 

“We are very bullish about the relationships,” said Jaishnkar. Besides, India is also looking forward to a humanitarian solution to the issue of its  fishermen’s rights amid controversial remarks by lankan Premier Ranil Wickramasinghe.  Modi visits Sri lanka on March 13-14. He will be the first Indian Prime Minister to visit lanka on bilateral terms after 28 years. last was Rajeev Gandhi in 1987. In Jaffna Modi will hand over about 20,000 homes built with the help of Indian assistance. Modi, who will also address Sri lankan Parliament during his visit besides holding summit talks with lanka President Maithripala Sirisena. 

Modi reaches Seychelles on March 10 night and will  hold bilateral talks with President James Alexis Michel on March 11 in a bid to strengthen maritime security and bilateral development cooperation.  He will also operationalise a coastal surveillance radar. Reaching Mauritius on March 11 afternoon. 

Modi will hold talks with Prime Minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth and address Mauritian Parliament. The Prime Minister will also be the Chief Guest at Mauritius’s 42nd National Day celebrations.