The United Kingdom will transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. The British government announced this decision on October 3, BBC informs. It is noted that the agreement was reached after years of negotiations and involves the historic transfer of the Chagos Islands from the United Kingdom to Mauritius.

UK agrees to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius

The U.K. has agreed to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, in a deal to secure the future of a strategically important U.

While the UK and US retain a key strategic military base in the Indian Ocean, the two governments remain apprehensive over the security of the island.

Britain on Thursday said it would give up sovereignty of a remote Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius but will maintain there a strategic military base that it shares with the United States, in what US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement".