COVER N. 416 - INDIA

Postmark: Illegible 05.02.2024 

Posted on the 5th February; Received on the 28th February 2024

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Second cover I received on the same day, stamped with a joint issue stamp, which is always an added motif of interest, the more so when the stamp is as beautiful on this letter I got from India. Thanks you so much, Keran!

Diplomatic relations between India and Mauritius date back to 1948, when Mauritius was still a British colony and India was just one year away from having obtained its independency from the same colonising power.

The relevance and justification for this fact is clearly centred on demographic reasons, given that 75% of the population of the Mauritius archipelago are of Indian ascendency, India being also a most relevant economic relation, providing 13% of the archipelago's imports, just after the 15% quota of the P.R. of China. (2019 data).

The very beautiful 25 Rupee one stamp souvenir sheet illustrated with images of the national birds of the two countries - the Indian p

Peacock for India and the Mauritius Kestrel, for Mauritius -  was issued on 02NOV2023 in both countries. 

As far as I could note, only the denomination is, of course, different in the Mauritius version.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was established in 2001 by China and Russia. Today it has nine full time members: P.R. China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,  Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, India, Pakistan and Iran.

India joined the organisation at the same time as Pakistan, in June 2017.

India hosted the 2023 Heads of State SCO summit in July 2023, but chose to do it in virtual format, a move that was seen by some as a way to prevent diplomatic embarrassment, given the warrant impending on Vladimir Putin's by the International Criminal Court of the Hague.

On the occasion, India Post issued the 5 Rupee stamp on the cover  which is dominated by the SCO, logo over the three colours of the Indian Flag on the background.