Mauritius today lauded India's contribution in fighting piracy in the Indian Ocean Rim region.
Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam said India made "significant contribution to fight against the scourge of piracy in our region."
He was speaking after inaugurating the first Economic and Business Conference of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC).
The two-day conference, among others, is being attended by Indian Commerce and Industry Ministry Anand Sharma and representatives of several nations including Japan, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and South Africa. IOR-ARC is a grouping of 20 nations.
Ramgoolam also underlined the need for focusing on concrete deliverables by the governments of the Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) countries to improve the lives of about 2 billion people living in region.
"We need for focus on concrete deliverables," he said.
He also said trade and investment among the member countries has remained much below potential.
In this regard, Ramgoolam made a case for increasing cooperation in the field of deep sea mining, rare earth metals, defence and other emerging sectors among the member nations.
