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Wednesday, Oct 17, 2007
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Maritime academy in Mauritius

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Union Minister of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways T.R. Baalu called on Sir Anerood Jugnauth, President of the Republic of Mauritius, on Wednesday and discussed issues relating to shipping and port sectors.

According to an official release, he later inaugurated the state-of-the-art Mauritius Maritime Training Academy at Pointe aux Sables. Mr. Baalu said the institution would act as a bridge to further augment bilateral cooperation. He said that in due course, apart from having experienced trainers, this academy would have to conduct training for even deck and engineering officers and would also install a large number of training equipment such as lifeboats, life rafts and various types of simulators.

To equip the academy with all these facilities, a tangible cooperation between India and Mauritius was needed, Mr. Baalu added.

Sharing the Indian experience in maritime training, the Minister said it was privatised in India in 1998 and there were about 130 institutes across the country, as compared to only four government-controlled institutions.

The privatisation of training had a multiplier effect as it resulted in enhanced access to maritime education and employment to remote parts of the country.

Trained manpower

The number of employment opportunities as seafarers increased substantially and a large pool of trained manpower had been created for taking over as teachers, surveyors and other professionals associated with the industry.

The Minister said that due to the high quality of training and stringent controls, the Indian seafarers, especially those in the officers’ category, were well regarded all over the world and, consequently, only about one-third of these seafarers worked on the Indian ships and the remaining two-thirds got employment on foreign flag vessels.

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