Mauritius foreign minister Dhananjay Ritish Ramful who is in India and attended the state funeral of former Indian prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh has described the Indian leader as a "close friend" of his country. Speaking to WION's Sidhant Sibal, Foreign minister Ramful said, Dr Manmohan singh was "very instrumental in helping Mauritius on various projects...taxation treaty". The Mauritius Foreign minister joined Bhutan's King and top Indian leadership, President Murmu, and PM Narendra Modi at the funeral in Delhi's Nigambodh Ghat. 

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On Friday (Dec 27), the Mauritius Prime Minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam paid a visit to the Indian High Commission and paid his honour. The Mauritius govt as a mark of honour for the late Indian PM has said that the country's flags will be flown at half-mast. Condolences have been coming from across the globe as world leaders join India in mourning the loss of Dr Manmohan Singh, India's prime minister from 2004-2014, who was known for his economic reforms and key foreign policy initiatives including the 2005 Indo-US Nuclear deal. 

Sidhant Sibal: You're here in Delhi, and you were in attendance at the state funeral of the former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Your first thoughts when it comes to his legacy.

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Dhananjay Ritish Ramful: Well, first of all, on behalf of the government of Mauritius, express my heartfelt condolences and share this moment of sadness with the people of India. The former prime minister was a very close friend of the people of Mauritius during his terms of office, between 2004 to 2014. During that term, he had always done his best to promote this special relationship, this special bond between the two nations. I also remember that the current Mauritius Prime Minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam was also a very close friend of the late Dr Manmohan Singh. In fact, on two occasions when Dr Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister, he invited current Prime Minister  Dr Navin Ramgoolam to India, where they had signed numerous MOUs and bilateral agreements about, you know, security, culture, education, etc. And what is more important for Mauritius is that you know, when he was Prime Minister, he was instrumental in preserving the double taxation treaty that we have with India. And also another important thing that he did for Mauritius was that he intervened personally with the Mangalore oil refinery to get petroleum products to Mauritius at a very concessionary rate. So these are a few instances where the late Prime Minister has been very helpful to the people of Mauritius.

Sidhant Sibal: The Mauritius government has also announced that they will lower the flag to half-mast today as a mark of respect to the former Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh, who died on Thursday. If you can talk about it as to how the Mauritius government is paying their respects to the former prime minister. We saw Mauritius PM Dr Navin Ramgoolam also visiting the Indian High Commission and paying his condolences.

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Dhananjay Ritish Ramful: Yes, as I just said, the Prime Minister of Mauritius  Dr Navin Ramgoolam was a very close friend to Dr Manmohan Singh, and concerning him, we have decided to pay tribute to him and his family as well. And as I've said, also, he has been very instrumental in, you know, helping Mauritius on various projects, and more importantly, the taxation treaty. And also, he was very much, I remember also he came for the inauguration of the cyber tower in Mauritius when we launched the cyber tower in Mauritius. He was the one who inaugurated the cyber tower, although the project was initiated by the late Prime Minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee.

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Sidhant Sibal: So my final question to you is, you've already talked about how he was instrumental in strengthening the relationship, but how will former prime minister Manmohan Singh's legacy continue to play an important role in strengthening the India-Mauritius relationship further

Dhananjay Ritish Ramful: Well, he was, you know, the comprehensive Economic Cooperation and partnership Agreement that we have with India. He was also very much for the agreement. 

Hon’ble Dr. @PmRamgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, visited the @HCI_PortLouis and signed the Condolence Book opened in memory of Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India. pic.twitter.com/qnpMirkREa

— India in Mauritius (@HCI_PortLouis) December 27, 2024

And he had pushed, at that time when the Labor government in Mauritius was in power, he had pushed for Mauritius and India to come to terms on this sector. So ultimately, we managed to come to terms with the agreement, probably we will remember him as being one of the prime ministers who had always been willing and given much effort to try and help the two nations to agree. And as well, as I've said, also, more importantly, as you know, the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement or DDTA, he has always been very supportive. He has done his best to preserve the  Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement treaty and this has, as you know, brought to Mauritius, FDI-Foreign direct investment.