50 years of India-Seychelles friendship, PM Modi received a historic award, said – “Will make Indian Ocean an ocean of opportunities”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has achieved another global milestone during his historic three-day state visit to the East African island nation of Seychelles. Seychelles President Patrick Herminie has honored PM Modi with the country’s special presidential honor ‘Guardian of the Blue Horizon’. This is the first time in history that the island nation has honored a foreign head of state with this highest honour.

Accepting this honor humbly, Prime Minister Modi called it the pride of India’s 1.4 billion people. In a joint press statement with President Harmini, PM Modi said, “It is a matter of great pride and joy for me and the whole of India to be honored with the title of ‘Guardian of the Blue Horizon’. I dedicate this honor to all those countries who are grappling with the serious challenges of climate change and consider environmental protection as their responsibility towards the coming generations.”

Commitment towards environment and blue economy recognized

This highest honor reflects PM Modi’s global leadership and his steadfast resolve to advance environmental protection, sustainable development, blue economy and the interests of Small Island Developing States (SIDS). This includes India’s global initiatives such as Mission LiFE, “Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam”, International Solar Alliance (ISA), and Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

50 years of bilateral relations and $175 million economic package

This visit of PM Modi is very special as it coincides with the historic occasion of 50th Independence Day of Seychelles and 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between India and Seychelles. On this occasion, both the countries also launched a special memorable ‘logo’. According to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, both leaders welcomed the progress of the ongoing projects under the special economic package of USD 175 million. Along with this, many important agreements (MoUs) were signed between the two countries to strengthen digital payments, space cooperation, health, agriculture and maritime security. PM Modi also clarified that India will share its successful experiences of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) with Seychelles so that both the countries can together transform the Indian Ocean into an “ocean of opportunities”.