Seeking to protect its strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region, New Delhi is pulling out all the stops to reach out to Seychelles President Danny Faure, who will pay a State Visit to India from Saturday.

During his six-day visit, the Seychelles leader will tour Ahmedabad, Panaji, Dehradun and New Delhi to engage with varying sections of the Indian leadership as well as the society.

The visit comes amid growing opposition in Seychelles over an agreement with India for the development of a naval base on the remote Assumption Island. New Delhi has been keen to develop the port in view of the growing Chinese presence in the region.

Leader of the Opposition Wavel John Charles Ramkalawan and ruling party members told President Faure that they would not allow the agreement to go through “in its present form”.

The President, ahead of his visit to India, in a press conference on 4 June said that the joint project with New Delhi to develop a naval base at Assumption Island in his country would not move forward. He added that the issue would not be discussed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

India has tried to engage Seychelles diplomatically to ensure that this deal does not fall through but in vain. In January the then Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar visited the island nation and recently Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale visited Seychelles for a joint commission meeting to highlight the importance India attaches to this project.

At the same time, It also conveyed to the Faure administration that it understood the political difficulties that the current dispensation was facing with regard to the naval base project.

With China acquiring its first African naval base in Djibouti and increasing its presence in Seychelles as well, this project is critical to India’s strategic foothold in that part of the world.

Faure will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising two Cabinet Ministers, four Secretaries of State and other senior officials of the Government of Seychelles. A business delegation will also be accompanying the President on the visit.

The External Affairs Ministry said the visit of President Faure was part of regular high- level exchanges between India and Seychelles and would accord an opportunity to review wide-ranging bilateral cooperation, including in the fields of defence and security and development partnership.