Foreign and Commonwealth Office written question – answered am ar 17 Hydref 2019.
Daniel Kawczynski
Ceidwadwyr, Shrewsbury and Atcham
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the address to the Mauritian Prime Minister at the UN General Assembly on 22 May 2019, what steps he has taken to improve diplomatic relations with Mauritius.
Andrew Stephenson
Assistant Whip, Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) (Joint with the Department for International Development)
Mauritius is a valued friend, trading partner and member of the Commonwealth. We are fully committed to our bilateral relationship. But we have been clear that Prime Minister Jugnauth's unjustified and incendiary remarks at the United Nations General Assembly in May were unacceptable. We have no doubt about our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814. Mauritius has never held sovereignty over BIOT and we do not recognise its claim. We have, however, made a long-standing commitment to cede sovereignty of BIOT to Mauritius when it is no longer required for defence purposes. We stand by that commitment.
Yes1 person thinks so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.