Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: THE United States and Mauritius will hold bilateral discussions next week in Port Louis focused on security cooperation and the future operation of the military base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos archipelago, the US State Department said.
From February 23–25, the talks will be led by the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. Officials said the discussions will centre on bilateral security cooperation and the “effective implementation of security arrangements for the base to ensure its long-term, secure operation.” The United States “supports the decision of the United Kingdom to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago,” the release said.
Washington also reaffirmed its interest in concluding a separate bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom “to guarantee continued use of basing and other facilities in the Chagos archipelago.” The talks come amid a 2025 arrangement between London and Port Louis under which sovereignty of the Chagos Islands — long administered by Britain as the British Indian Ocean Territory— will transfer to Mauritius while preserving the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia under a leaseback provision.
Diego Garcia is a key logistics, air, and naval hub for US and allied forces. Its location in the central Indian Ocean gives the base strategic reach across the Middle East, South Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific region.
For India and other Indian Ocean littoral states, developments in the archipelago carry strategic weight. Mauritius has long asserted sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, arguing that the territory was unlawfully separated from it by Britain before independence in 1968.
