Mauritius Keen To Become Bridge For India To Africa: Indian-Origin Minister

NEW DELHI: Mauritius is keen to become a "real bridge" for India to invest and connect with the rest of Africa and with Europe, said Showkutally Soodhun, the new vice prime minister of the Indian Ocean island who is of Indian descent and who is proud of his "Hindi roots".

"We want that Mauritius be a bridge for India, a real bridge for India, and through Mauritius they can come and invest and go to Europe and Africa. This is very important," Soodhun told.

Soodhun, who was in India to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Gandhinagar and later in the capital to attend the World Hindi Day celebrations, was full of praise for the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"This is a new government (in India) and we are also a new government. It is a very dynamic government," he said of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government.

The Mauritius general elections of Dec 10, 2014 brought former prime minister Sir Anerood Jugnauth back into the saddle. Soodhun is the minister of housing and lands in the government.

According to Soodhun, bilateral relations between India and Mauritius were getting "even more cemented, and our economic, social and political links are getting even more closer".

He said though the Mauritius government was very new, "our prime minister has sent me (to India) to go and give a good signal - that we have such high regard for India and are so keen to strengthen our relations".

Soodhun said Mauritius was planning to purchase all petroleum products from India. "All our petroleum products will come from India, worth $1 billion for three years."

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