Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Johanne Prosper
Published on 2024-02-23 15:00:18
The excellent and fraternal relationships between the two sister islands, Mauritius and La Réunion, were emphasized by the prefect, Jérôme Filippini, at the end of the seventh meeting of the Maurice-Réunion contact group held on Tuesday morning at the Assemblée nationale. This meeting was co-chaired by the prefect of La Réunion and Ravi Meettook, Secretary of the Interior at the Prime Minister’s Office.
During the meeting, discussions continued on issues related to domestic security and maritime security. Additionally, two conventions were signed to strengthen the joint fight against narcotics, as well as maritime surveillance and security between the two islands.
The French delegation led by Jérôme Filippini included the territorial director of the national police, the commander of the gendarmerie of La Réunion, the customs director, the commander of the South Indian Ocean maritime zone, the director of internal security, and the director of the Regional Operational Center for Surveillance and Rescue of La Réunion.
The Mauritian delegation, led by Ravi Meettook, Secretary of the Interior, included Joyker Nyeck, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and senior officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, police, customs, immigration, and maritime security.
The participants took stock of the actions taken since the previous meeting, including the signing of the Technical Arrangement on customs cooperation, trainings, controls, joint missions, and improving cooperation in combating illegal immigration. They also defined the upcoming priorities, such as joint training on counter-terrorism, document fraud, joint customs controls, and a mission by the Central Office for Combating Environmental and Public Health Offenses in Mauritius. Given the numerous common challenges, the delegations reaffirmed their strong commitment to continue and deepen cooperation and information exchange between Mauritius and La Réunion.
In terms of domestic security, the topics discussed included combating narcotics, combating money laundering in customs matters, combating illegal immigration, counter-terrorism, and combating environmental and public health offenses. In particular, regarding the fight against illegal immigration, both parties decided to work towards creating a joint information exchange convention by 2024.
New topics for collaborative work, addressing pressing societal issues in La Réunion and Mauritius, were also validated, such as combating prostitution, intra-family violence, and road safety insecurity.
Read the original article(French) on Le Mauricien
