NEW DELHI, 17 AUGUST, 2020 (GPN): Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that India and Mauritius enjoy a unique friendship based on shared cultural and linguistic heritage, and robust cooperation in many areas. He was responding to Mauritius’ Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth’s greetings to him on India’s 74th Independence Day, which was celebrated on Saturday. “Happy Independence Day India. God bless the Government and the people of this great nation. Jai Hind,” the Mauritius PM tweeted. Modi in his reply said, “Thank you for your greetings, Prime Minister P K Jugnauth! India and Mauritius enjoy a unique friendship, based on shared cultural and linguistic heritage and robust cooperation in many areas.”

The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) has sent a 10-member specialist team with equipment to Mauritius for supplementing ongoing efforts to contain an oil spill.

“Consequent to a high level decision by Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Defence, the Indian Coast Guard has deputed a 10-member specialist pollution response team along with pollution response equipment to Mauritius for supplementing ongoing efforts to contain an oil spill from bulk carrier MV Wakashio on its South Eastern coastline,”.

According to a tweet from Indian High Commission in Mauritius, 30 tonnes of specialised equipment and 10-member technical response team from Indian Coast Guard arrived in Mauritius from India on board an Indian Air Force aircraft to assist in salvage, containment and oil spill clean up operations.

The release said the specialist Indian Coast Guard team is qualified in pollution response operations at sea and is capable of undertaking pollution response and cleanup operations.

“The various pollution response equipment such as ocean and river Booms, skimmers, salvage barge were dispatched to combat the oil spill,” the release said.

According to the release, the Indian Coast Guard pollution response team in coordination with Mauritius, experts and teams from various other countries and specialised international experts from organisations like IMO and ITOPF will work in tandem to safeguard the pristine ecological sensitive environment and mitigate the effects of spilled oil at sea and ashore.

“The assistance is in line with the Prime Minister of India’s vision of SAGAR (Security and Growth of All the Region) and also to the commitment for shared responsibility and cooperation in the Indian Ocean between India and Mauritius during his visit in March 2016. The decision comes after holding discussions with Mauritius in aiding for response and containment of oil spread in sensitive marine environment consisting of coral reef, mangroves and endangered marine species,” said the release.

The Ministry of External Affairs earlier in the day said that in response to a request of the government of Mauritius (GoM) for assistance in dealing with the environmental crisis due to oil spill on its south-east coast, the government of India has dispatched over 30 tonnes of technical equipment and material on board an IAF aircraft to Mauritius to supplement the country’s ongoing oil spill containment and salvage operations.

A country like Mauritius having a significant part of the economy dependent on tourism should not further delay the opening of borders. Tourists from India, Europe, Africa, etc are looking for vacations and neighbouring islands like Seychelles, Maldives, Réunion island are already wooing them. A COVID19 FREE certification before departure and subsequent testing on arrival would reduce the risk of transmission to close to zero. Mauritius can’t survive without tourists, and the government is holding daily consultations to decide when to reopen and to whom.

That decision is likely to be made once the airport has been fitted with a laboratory to test visitors upon arrival. Among the options under review are the classification of tourists according to the length of their stay. Travelers who come for a week could be restricted to staying inside their resort and those who stay more than a month may be subjected to quarantine.

“We’re working hard to find a solution,” said Nilen Vencadasmy, chair of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority. “It’s probably going to be done in phases. We want to keep that edge of being a Covid-safe destination.” ENDS