Listen to this article:

New Delhi: India on June 28 indicated it remained open to reviving the long-stalled Assumption Island project in Seychelles if the island nation’s government wished to revisit it, even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi became the first recipient of a presidential award instituted only days before his arrival for a state visit.

Asked whether Assumption Island figured in discussions between the two sides, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said the issue had not been raised during the visit but stressed that New Delhi would be receptive if Victoria sought to revive cooperation.

“We have not specifically spoken about this during the ongoing visit, but it is something that we would be open to hearing about should the government of Seychelles raise this matter,” Misri told reporters in Victoria after the bilateral talks.

He stressed that any project India undertakes abroad is guided by the priorities and interests of the host government. “Any project that we undertake in Seychelles, or for that matter any foreign country, is ultimately guided by the priorities and the interests of the host government,” Misri said.

India’s top diplomat added that development, security and defence cooperation must also align with “the interests and priorities of the government of Seychelles and the people of Seychelles.”

A contentious project

In 2015, during Modi’s first visit to the island nation, India and Seychelles signed an agreement to jointly develop military infrastructure on Assumption Island, a sparsely populated island located about 1,100 kilometres southwest of Mahé and strategically........

© The Wire