New Delhi: India has handed over a passenger variant of the Dornier maritime aircraft to the Mauritius coast guard, in a naval diplomacy effort at building capabilities of friendly nations in the Indian Ocean Region.

An official ceremony was conducted at the Maritime Air Squadron of National Coast Guard in Mauritius on Sep 13 for handing over the Passenger Variant Dornier (PVD, an Indian Navy statement said.

The aircraft has been presented to the Mauritius Police Force (MPF) by the Indian Navy on lease, the statement said.

Mauritius Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade Alan Ganoo, and India’s High Commissioner to Mautirius Nandini K. Singla were present on the occasion.

Nandini Singla, in her address at the ceremony, emphasised on the friendly ties and naval cooperation existing between Mauritius and India, a relation which has only flourished with time.

She highlighted that the Dornier ‘MSN 4059‘ has been leased to MPF by the Indian Navy on a gratis basis to support the current increased load of air operations.

She also mentioned that next year, India’s state-run Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) shall be handing over a brand new state-of-the-art PVD to Mauritius and this purchase has been facilitated through a Line of Credit to the Government of Mauritius.

Alan Ganoo emphasised on the continued support given by India and thanked Indian Navy for sparing a Dornier from its inventory for use by the National Coast Guard.

The interim lease PVD was then handed over by Nandini Singla to Alan Ganoo officially.

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