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NEW DELHI: Overcoming the recent controversy, India and Seychelles, in a major move on Monday, agreed to work together on the joint project at the Assumption Island keeping each other’s concerns in mind as India ramped up its defence partnership with the Indian Ocean Region country by handing over a Dornier aircraft and $100 million defence-related Line of Credit to augment the island nation’s defence capabilities.The two sides also signed six pacts including a cyber security arrangement and White Shipping agreement between the two navies after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Danny Faure here.“With this credit, Seychelles will be able to buy defence equipment to boost its maritime capacity,” Modi said in his joint media statement with Faure. On the project to develop a naval facility at the Assumption Island, which would give India a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region, Modi said, “We have agreed to work together on the Assumption Island project based on each other’s rights.”Faure, in his remarks, said the Assumption Island project was discussed and the two countries were equally engaged to work together bearing each other’s interests in mind. This would indicate that India has been able to safeguard its strategic partnership with Seychelles that dates back to 1976 when the country gained independence.There has been growing political opposition in Seychelles to an agreement it signed with India in 2015 to jointly develop a naval facility at the island which would have given Delhi a strategic advantage in the Indian Ocean Region.ET was the first to report that a Dornier aircraft would be handed over Seychelles in June. One of the six pacts focused on twining of Panaji and Seychelles as reported by ET earlier.“Under the leadership of PM Modi, India has a visionary understanding of what’s at stake, especially in terms of security and defence, and to address the challenges of our time when it comes to climate change, multilateral trade negotiations and bridging gaps of inequality,” said Faure in his remarks at the joint press meet.External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj also called on the visiting leader and discussed expanding bilateral cooperation in key areas, including capacity building and human resource development.Faure received a red carpet welcome.The Seychelles president had landed in Gujarat on June 22 as part of his six-day India tour and visited the Sabarmati Ashram on Saturday. Faure also visited the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, where he held a meeting with the institute’s director Errol D’Souza. This is Faure’s second visit to India since March but the first ever state visit. When he met PM Modi in April in London on the side lines of the Commonwealth Summit, Faure is understood to have narrated in detail the difficulties he faced in getting parliamentary approval for the MoU for proposed joint naval project.