Regional cooperation: A world of opportunities

For long hailed as the ‘Star and Key of the Indian Ocean’, Mauritius aims to again become an economic hub for this part of the world. Besides the shipping hub and the opening of an air corridor linking Africa and Asia through Mauritius and Singapore, Mauritius is also solicited by its African peers for its expertise.

On Monday, the Finance Minister Pravind Jugnauth signed the 3rd Addendum to the Grant Agreement under the COMESA Adjustment Facility. On this occasion, the Minister reminded that, as a member State of the COMESA Fund, Mauritius has since 2012 received a total of € 3.6 million (approx. Rs 143 million). He added that “funding from COMESA has also supported Mauritius to meet country-specified performance commitments and other trade related programmes on regional integration such as: Buyer-seller meetings in COMESA Member States; Consolidation of SMEs to better conduct business in the COMESA market with re-branding of products with business and fairs; Trade missions and Enhancement of Single Window Portal.”

Mauritius is indeed an active player in regional cooperation, being a member in various regional blocs such as the SADC, COMESA, the IOC and the IOR-ARC. The country is playing a new role as a gateway to Africa, or as a platform for investment into Africa. Mauritius is also increasingly involved in sharing of knowledge and expertise with its African neighbours in various sectors. In that context, the Africa Strategy is fast becoming an important economic tool in regional development.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19739","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-34087 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"500","height":"694","alt":"african-gdp-growth-rates"}}]]Africa Strategy

Africa is presently one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world. This complex and diverse continent is expected to grow substantially in the coming years, and the Government of Mauritius is implementing new economic measures to participate in the continent’s growth. Among them:

• Review of air access policy to transform Mauritius into a regional aviation and tourism hub, starting with the recent launch of the Air Corridor;
• Develop a regional tourism strategy that will capture a greater share of African outbound tourists;
• Bring about more convergence in the policies among the Regional Economic Communities to which Mauritius belongs;
• Improve port facilities to provide dynamic port-related activities such as cruise operations, transshipment and bunkering activities for the region;
• Collaborate with like-minded countries to promote and preserve peace and security in Africa and the Indian Ocean region;
• Provide the right incentives to position Mauritius as the ‘virtual office’ of Africa;
• Position Mauritius as an important economic gateway for investors for their investments into and out of Africa.

Mauritius Africa Fund

The Mauritius Africa Fund has been set up as a public company limited by shares and will encourage domestic enterprises to invest in Africa. The Government has committed to a maximum of MUR 500 million in the Fund spanned over a period of five years. It also participates as an equity partner up to 10% of the seed capital invested by the Mauritian investors in projects targeted towards Africa. With such government support, this initiative undoubtedly gives further visibility and comfort to African entities on the credibility and viability of the projects presented to them by Mauritian companies.

Furthermore, the Mauritius Africa Fund is encouraging development partners and institutional investors to co-participate in the Fund. The MAF is currently looking for a manager to lead the organisation, which has the following objectives: to establish a clear strategy for promoting Mauritian investments into Africa; to steer the development of integrated projects, including Special Economic Zones, Technology Parks, Logistics Parks, Agro-industrial Parks, Seafood, etc. in selected African countries; to assist in developing joint ventures / partnership agreements between African and Mauritian businesses. To be eligible for funding, those interested should incorporate a new company and intended activities should not be socially or environmentally harmful.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19742","attributes":{"class":"media-image size-full wp-image-34090 alignleft","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"500","height":"312","alt":"pravind"}}]]Mauritius obtains Rs 27 million grant under COMESA Adjustment Facility

Mauritius signed yesterday the 3rd Addendum to the Grant Agreement under the COMESA Adjustment Facility (CAF) to the tune of Rs 27 million following the approval of the Mauritius Progress Monitoring Report by the 11th COMESA Fund Committee in December 2015.

The signatories were the Minister of Finance, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, and the Secretary General of the COMESA, Mr Sindiso Ngwenya. Moreover, Mauritius has also received additional funds amounting 1.75 million euros for 2016 and 2017 in view of its progress in fulfilling regional commitments.

In his address, finance minister Pravind Jugnauth reiterated his full support towards fostering economic development through regional integration. He pointed out that Mauritius is privileged to be part of the regional economic bloc of the Eastern and Southern African countries and the COMESA which is one of the key trading partners with a population of more than 460 million and a Gross Domestic Product of USD 650 million. The COMESA Free Trade Area has contributed to further promote cross border trade and investment between Mauritius and the COMESA, he said.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"19743","attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-34092 alignright","typeof":"foaf:Image","style":"","width":"300","height":"371","alt":"COMESA"}}]]According to the Minister, as Member State of the COMESA Fund, Mauritius has, since 2012, successfully participated in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Calls for Submission launched by the COMESA Secretariat and has received a total of € 3.6 million (approximately Rs 143 million). This has supported Mauritius to meet country-specified performance commitments and other trade related programmes on regional integration.

The CAF has also been instrumental in enabling Mauritius to establish the necessary framework for the implementation of its national as well as regional integration commitments, he said.

For his part the Secretary General of the COMESA lauded the efforts of Mauritius in development through the Africa Strategy which he said goes beyond the boundaries of traditional Regional Economic Communities. According to him, Mauritius has made tremendous progress with regard to Regional Integration which has served as leverage for market diversification to new emerging markets.

He commended Mauritius for the economic reform programme initiated in 2006 and which has helped the country consolidate its trade competitiveness along with the elimination of customs duties on all raw materials and capital goods where presently 89% tariff lines are duty free in Mauritius. This, he said, is a great blueprint to other COMESA Member States.

Mr Ngwenya also reiterated COMESA’s support to Mauritius in the development of the blue economy initiatives in addition to other such developments that will further contribute to promote regional integration.

Gabon Following a ‘Business Forum’ recently organised in Gabon jointly by the Board of Investment and the 'Agence de Promotion d’investissements et d’Exportations (APIEX)’ of Gabon, many business opportunities have been identified. Mauritian entrepreneurs have also stared prospecting the country. Gabon, a politically stable country wants to develop its industry and its services sector, while ensuring a sustainable development. Gabon has good infrastructure and abundant natural resources. It aims to become a regional financial centre, an ICT destination and a medical and education hub in Africa.

Congo The President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso was on an official visit to Mauritius in July 2011. Since then, two agreements have been signed between the two countries for the development of four special economic zones in Congo and enhanced cooperation in the field of information technology. There is also a project of triangular cooperation involving Congo, Mauritius and Singapore to encourage Singaporeans invest in Congo by using Mauritius as a launch pad. Congo is also benefiting from the expertise of Mauritius for the setting up of an investment promotion agency similar to the Board of Investment. The country wants to be able to attract foreign investment.

Mozambique Mozambique represents a vast market for our exports, namely clothing, foodstuffs, manufactured goods, among others. Various investment opportunities also exist in Mozambique by Mauritian entrepreneurs, in sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction, tourism, trade, ICT and renewable energy. Recently, Air Mauritius has started flying nonstop to Maputo, thus boosting the level of exchange between the two countries. Mozambican investors are also keen to invest in Mauritius. It should be recalled that the Government of Mozambique previously allocated an extent of 23,500 hectares to Mauritius for agricultural and energy projects. However, so far the lands have remained more or less unutilised.

The ‘Big 5’ In Africa, the term ‘Big 5’ often refers to game animals that are the African lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, African leopard, and White/Black rhinoceros. These are the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. But the ‘Big 5’ also refers to the five African countries which will see a huge rise in their financial and trading transactions. They are South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. These countries have a booming middle class, prompting many countries to sign various economic and trade agreements with them for future exchanges and cooperation.

Oil exploration Seychelles and Mauritius plan joint petroleum exploration in the Indian Ocean, under the co-management agreement, with an extended 396,000 square kilometres of ocean surface. The Seychelles authorities have already invited petroleum companies to submit their proposals for ocean bed exploration. So far, two companies, namely Alfren Plc and WHL Energy have been granted permits to explore the Seychelles waters.