Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

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.

​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.