diff --git a/include/ginkgo/core/base/types.hpp b/include/ginkgo/core/base/types.hpp
index 8e2096c09e2..6d8e2f3e928 100644
--- a/include/ginkgo/core/base/types.hpp
+++ b/include/ginkgo/core/base/types.hpp
@@ -795,7 +795,7 @@ inline constexpr GKO_ATTRIBUTES IndexType invalid_index()
 
 
 namespace experimental {
-namespace distributed {
+namespace mpi {
 
 
 /**
@@ -806,6 +806,18 @@ namespace distributed {
 using comm_index_type = int;
 
 
+}  // namespace mpi
+
+
+namespace distributed {
+
+
+/**
+ * Make mpi::comm_index_type avaiable in this namespace
+ */
+using mpi::comm_index_type;
+
+
 /**
  * Instantiates a template for each valid combination of local and global index
  * type