The bilateral security agreement was meant to facilitate an Indian naval base in Seychelles. This is significa... Read More

NEW DELHI: In the middle of a controversy over Seychelles backing out of a bilateral security agreement which was meant to facilitate an Indian naval base on its territory, the president of India's maritime neighbour Danny Faure landed in India on Friday for a five-day visit.

Announcing the visit, the foreign ministry said Faure was accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising two cabinet ministers, four secretaries of state and other senior officials.

There was more bad news for India as Reuters reported from Seychelles that its parliament would not ratify a pact allowing India to build naval facilities on the archipelago's Assumption Island .

Indian officials continued to maintain that they were yet to officially hear from Seychelles on its decision to not honour the agreement signed in January. After public protests against the agreement, which would have allowed India to develop military facilities on the island, Faure announced earlier this month that Seychelles was not going ahead with it. "The government will not present the agreement to the National Assembly (parliament) for approval because opposition members (who are the majority) have already said they will not ratify it," Seychelles secretary of state for foreign affairs Barry Faure told Reuters.

"Hence, the question of whether the agreement has been cancelled or not does arise - we will simply not take it to the assembly," he said, noting that the Indian side had already ratified the pact. This is significant as it comes just ahead of the Seychelles president 's meeting with PM Modi. India's agreement with Seychelles was crucial in the context of rapid Chinese naval expansion in the Indian Ocean.

The foreign ministry said the president will visit Gujarat, Goa and Uttarakhand. "The state visit of President Faure is part of regular high level exchanges between India and Seychelles, and will accord an opportunity to review our wide-ranging bilateral cooperation including in the fields of defence and security ," it added.

