Victoria [Seychelles], October 26 (ANI): India and Seychelles are strengthening their historic ties, with Vice President CP Radhakrishnan's upcoming visit marking a new chapter in bilateral cooperation.

India and Seychelles are set to strengthen their bilateral relations in maritime security, defence, tourism, and renewable energy, and further develop on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 'Mahasagar', which encompasses the strategically important Indian Ocean.

Ahead of Vice President CP Radhakrishnan's visit to the island nation of Seychelles, Indian High Commissioner Rohit Rathish highlighted that India is looking to partner with Seychelles in marine conservation and tourism, and to strengthen its partnership with the country further. The island nation is an important part of India's Mahasagar initiative, which aims to improve maritime security.

'PM Modi's vision of Mahasagar envelops the entire Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean is key to India's well-being and prosperity. 90% of our trade and volume passes through the Indian Ocean. Seychelles is an island country in the Indian Ocean, but it has a vast exclusive economic zone of about 1.4 million sq Kms. We have been partners in the past and will continue to be partners in the future on strengthening maritime security and defence ties, but also ties such as tourism, renewable energy,' Indian High Commissioner Rathish told ANI here.

'Being an island country, Seychelles focuses a lot on marine conservation and science. It is very important to Seychelles' economy, alongside tourism. So it will be our effort to try and partner in these areas as well,' he added.

Highlighting continued cooperation between the two countries, the High Commissioner said that the Vice President's visit will also provide an opportunity to explore new areas of collaboration, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), with the possibility of new projects being announced.

Over the past decade, the governments of India and Seychelles have worked very closely. It will be an opportunity for us, the visit of the Vice President, to examine those areas of cooperation and take the new steps in these particular areas, and also look at new areas of collaboration, maybe artificial intelligence, depending on the priorities of the government of Seychelles,' he said.

India and Seychelles are already jointly working on various initiatives as part of a broader engagement with the global south. The ITIC program offers short-term courses as an option for many countries in the Global South to come to India and train in various sectors, including information technology, renewable energy, audit, and tourism, High Commissioner Rathish underlined.

The Mahasagar initiative is the Indian Navy's flagship outreach for high-level virtual interactions among Maritime Heads to promote Active Security and Growth for All in the Region. The initiative is held biannually and has garnered widespread acceptance among participating nations since its inception in 2023.

As part of the initiative, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi has interacted with Heads of Navies/ Maritime Agencies and Senior Leadership of various countries, including holding virtual meetings with maritime heads of Bangladesh, Comoros, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania in November 2024.

At the invitation of the Government of Seychelles, the Vice President of India, CP Radhakrishnan, will visit the Republic of Seychelles from October 26-27 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Patrick Herminie, President-elect of the Republic of Seychelles, on behalf of the Government of India.

During the visit, the Vice President will convey India's warm felicitations to Patrick Herminie and reaffirm the close, longstanding, and time-tested ties between the two countries. (ANI)