Ahmedabad: On his tour to India at the invitation of President Ram Nath Kovind, the Seychelles’ head of state, President Danny Faure will first visit Ahmedabad in Gujarat today. In Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar, Faure will visit prestigious institutions of higher learning including the Indian Institute of Management and the Gujarat Forensic Sciences University. In Goa, he will visit the Indian Naval Air Station.

Faure will then travel to New Delhi where he will meet the President, the Vice-President, and other high-level officials. The President will also hold bilateral talks with the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.

The Seychelles’ delegation will also include the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture, Charles Bastienne, and the Minister for Habitat, Infrastructure and Land Transport, Pamela Charlette.

India and Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, have enjoyed a long friendship since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1976.

The two countries have established relations in the fields of defence and maritime security through which India helped to patrol the Seychelles’ waters and gifting equipment to the island nation’s defence forces.

After Seychelles and India signed an agreement earlier this year to build military facilities on the remote island of Assumption, the project quickly became controversial, with the government supporting the plan but opposition members in the National Assembly and many private citizens against it.

In his presidential conference earlier this month, Faure said the issue of a military base on Assumption island is over and will not be discussed with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his state visit.

Faure will be the second President of Seychelles to undertake a State visit to India. Former President James Michel visited the South Asian country in August 2015.