New Delhi: Seychelles President Danny Faure has claimed that India’s offer of funding a naval base in Assumption Islands will not move forward. India, however, is yet to officially confirm or deny the development.
The scrapping of the deal will be a huge setback for India. The base on Assumption Island was to be funded by India and shared by the two countries' militaries.
In his press conference on June 4, Faure said that the deal with India is not on top of the priority and instead Seychelles would build its own Coast Guard facility since it was “important for the country to have its military base there.”
The deal was struck in principle in 2015 during a visit to Seychelles by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but progress since has been slow.
Faure’s statement comes barely days before he is set for a state visit to India. The President has further stated that Assumption Islands will not officially be on the table when he meets PM Modi. Faure and Modi had also met during the Commonwealth Meet earlier this year.
The deal has been in choppy waters ever since it was struck. The opposition in Seychelles had already said it was not going to back the deal and Faure too decided not to table the agreement in Parliament due to the staunch opposition to the agreement. Earlier in March, classified information from the agreement was leaked.
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