Navin Ramgoolam
Prime Minister of Mauritius · 1947
Who is Navin Ramgoolam?
Navinchandra Ramgoolam was born on 14 July 1947, the son of Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who led Mauritius to independence in 1968 and later served as the country's first President. He was educated at the Royal College Curepipe before travelling to Ireland to study medicine, qualifying with degrees from the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland between 1968 and 1975. In 1987 he set aside medicine to pursue a master's degree in law at the London School of Economics. He has led the Mauritian Labour Party since 1991 and previously served as Prime Minister of Mauritius from 1995 to 2000 and again from 2005 to 2014, in between periods as Leader of the Opposition. Following a landslide victory for his Alliance du Changement coalition in the November 2024 general election, he was sworn in as Prime Minister for a third time, succeeding Pravind Jugnauth. In May 2025 he signed, alongside UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, the treaty transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius while securing continued operation of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, describing the agreement as completing a process of decolonization that began in 1968.
Sources: Navin Ramgoolam, Wikipedia (biographical summary) · House of Commons Library, "2025 treaty on the British Indian Ocean Territory/Chagos Archipelago"