India plans to gift Seychelles a Dornier aircraft this month -- second such aircraft that could be gifted to the Indian Ocean Region, said people aware of the matter

NEW DELHI: India is planning to gift a Dornier aircraft to Seychelles and explore trilateral cooperation involving France that will safeguard its strategic interests in the backdrop of President Danny Faure’s announcement to cancel the project to jointly develop a naval base on Assumption Island ahead of his June 25 Delhi visit.

India plans to gift Seychelles a Dornier aircraft this month -- second such aircraft that could be gifted to the Indian Ocean Region, said people aware of the matter.

An Indo-French-Seychelles trilateral cooperation may safeguard India’s strategic interests in the key Indian Ocean country amid China’s growing interests in the region.

India and France joined hands in March for strategic partnership in the western part of the Indian Ocean region. The two countries share a logistic service agreement to support each other naval forces in the Indian Ocean Region. France also has strategic interests in Seychelles and recently engaged with Faure to expand French-Seychelles strategic ties.

ET has learnt that India is helping revive an old airstrip on Assumption Island along with other upgradation work.

The proposed joint project, the scrapping of which is yet to be officially communicated to the Indian defence establishment, entailed investment of $550 million in the development of an airstrip, jetty and housing infrastructure for the Seychelles Coast Guard in Assumption Island.

While Faure had mentioned in his June 4 press meet that there would be no discussion on the project during his India visit – the third meet between him and PM Narendra Modi this year – the project signed in 2015 and revised in January 2018 will cast a shadow on the visit. 

Experts said the project is a victim of domestic politics in Seychelles, where the opposition is not willing to compromise and has made it a controversial issue of violation of Seychelles sovereignty to pin down Faure government. However, India is approaching the issue deftly to prevent Faure’s visit getting entangled in domestic politics.

Changes in foreign secretary and principal secretary in Seychelles have slowed progress further. The biggest setback was the text of the detailed project report (DPR) being leaked on YouTube, sparking a controversy and questions over the nature of the deal.

The controversy, however, could not dent growing defence ties between India and Seychelles. In 2017, 11 Indian naval ships visited Seychelles and eight have visited Seychelles so far this year. Half of Seychelles’ military assets have been provided by India, which has trained around 70% of Seychelles’ military personnel.