Seychelles
Faure added, “In the context of maritime security, Assumption Island was discussed. We are equally engaged and will continue to work together, bearing each other’s interests in mind.”
The first agreement on the project was signed during Modi’s visit to Seychelles in March 2015. Following public protests in Seychelles, the two sides signed a revised agreement in January to build military facilities on the remote island. Under the revised pact valid for 20 years, India was to build an airstrip and a jetty for its navy on Assumption.
Faure is expected to face an uphill task in getting the project ratified by Parliament that is dominated by the opposition, which has been opposing any Indian military presence on Assumption.
India has been working overtime to bolster its naval presence in regional waters to counter China, which last year inaugurated its first overseas military base in Djibouti, near one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.
Defence and security issues were a key part of the discussions between the two leaders and Modi said both countries have a “geostrategic vision for peace, security and stability in the Indian Ocean” and have to contend with various traditional and non-traditional threats.
While working together to derive benefits from a “blue economy”, Modi said the two sides will also have to jointly confront challenges such as piracy, drugs, human trafficking and trans-national crimes.
He added that India will help Seychelles to build a new police headquarters, a new office for the attorney general and a new government house, and that Indian experts will be sent on deputation to the archipelago.
Faure described India as “one of our closest and reliable partners” and said Seychelles will benefit from the line of credit to aid the military and defence forces. The two sides signed six agreements on issues such as infrastructure development in Seychelles, cyber-security, sharing of white shipping information that will enable them to exchange data on the identity and movement of non-military commercial vessels. Israeli side. The procurement was changed to the governmentto-government route after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited India this January. The contract has now been revised to direct purchase of 4500 weapon systems with a small quantity being manufactured in Hyderabad.
While Israeli diplomats insist that the agenda for Adam’s trip is global defence and security related issues, India will also discuss the possible purchase of two more PHALCON-AWACS for the air force from Israel. This stateof-the-art radar with deep penetration capability is mounted on the Russian IL-76 platform and is expected to cost around $1 billion. India already has three of these advance warning and early detection planes which can look deep into enemy territory. The other military hardware deal on the agenda would be manufacture of TAVOR-21 assault rifles for the Indian security forces under the “Make in India route”.
Apart from reviewing the progress of ongoing bilateral defence deals, Adams and Mitra are expected to exchange views on the evolving situation in West Asia and Iran and the security environment in Asia and the Indo-pacific. track of the functioning of the judiciary as a whole.”
Besides the problem of pendency, the CJI in another letter to the high courts has highlighted the problem of vacancies in the lower judiciary and directed the high courts to make immediate appointments where vacancies are more than 15%. “Take immediate steps to ensure filling up of vacancies and set up an online portal for continuous monitoring of the vacancies,” reads the letter.