New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth on Thursday jointly inaugurated India-assisted social housing units project in Mauritius virtually.


The two leaders also launched the Civil Service College and the 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support, PTI reported.


An agreement on extending a USD 190 million Line of Credit from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects was exchanged during the event.


The Mauritius Prime Minister said that his government has decided to name one of the major metro stations as ‘Mahatma Gandhi’ station to pay gratitude for India’s support to the metro express project, ANI reported.


The two sides also signed an MoU on the implementation of small development projects during the event.


Prime Minister Modi in his address said India and Mauritius are united by history, ancestry, culture, language and the shared waters of the Indian ocean.


“Today, our robust development partnership has emerged as a key pillar of our close ties,” he added.


Asserting that he had outlined India’s maritime cooperation vision of SAGAR – ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ during his Mauritius visit in 2015, Prime Minister Modi said: “I am glad that our bilateral cooperation, including in maritime security, has translated this vision into action.”


Recalling the stellar contribution of former Mauritius president late Sir Anerood Jugnauth to strengthen the ties between both sides, Prime Minister Modi said that he was a visionary leader, who was widely respected in India.


“Upon his passing, we had declared a day of national mourning in India, and our Parliament had also paid homage to him,” said Prime Minister Modi.


“It was our privilege to honour him with the Padma Vibhushan award in 2020,” he added.


Prime Minister Modi expressed his delight that Mauritius is today among the few countries in the world to have fully vaccinated three-fourths of its population.


“Under our Vaccine Maitri programme, Mauritius was one of the first countries we were able to send Covid vaccines to,” he said.