Monaco and the Republic of Mauritius have established diplomatic relations, in a move that brings together two small states whose international standing is closely tied to the ocean.

The relationship was formalised on 25th August by a joint communiqué signed at the United Nations in New York by their permanent representatives, Isabelle Picco for Monaco and Milan Meetarbhan for Mauritius.

Mauritius may be a small island, but it commands a vast maritime territory. Its exclusive economic zone covers around 2.3 million square kilometres, more than 500 times its land area and the 20th-largest in the world, and the country has placed a ‘blue economy’ of fisheries, marine biotechnology, aquaculture and sustainable tourism at the centre of its development. That focus on protecting and harnessing the ocean is one Monaco has long shared, and it ran through the two countries’ first exchanges.

Common ground

After the signing, Picco and Meetarbhan discussed several areas of shared interest, among them environmental protection, sustainable tourism and education, and agreed to seek closer cooperation. Mauritius becomes one of more than 160 countries with which Monaco has established diplomatic relations, many of them island and coastal states with which the Principality has built ties through its environmental diplomacy, a cause closely associated with Prince Albert II.

The pattern is a familiar one. When Monaco established relations with the Federated States of Micronesia last year, the two sides likewise turned to the ocean, discussing coral reefs and the protection of the high seas.

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Photo credit: Xavier Coiffic, Unsplash