Towards cooperation with France

The Minister of Business, Enterprise and Cooperatives, Sunil Bholah, received at his office this week the Ambassador of France in Mauritius, Mr. Emmanuel Cohet, to discuss on opportunities for cooperation in the field of SMEs and cooperatives.

France is already an important economic partner for Mauritius and hence wishes to further consolidate the bilateral relations between our two countries through various aid schemes that can be set up for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises and companies.

Minister Sunil Bholah painted a picture of the current situation on both sectors, including the challenges they face, access to finance, markets, new technologies and knowledge are some of the key factors that SMEs face.

Sunil Bholah explained the government’s vision of making SMEs the backbone of the Mauritian economy. According to the Minister, to achieve this goal, there is need to strengthen the capability of SMEs

The Minister of Economic Activity, Enterprises and Cooperatives has thus made a plea for support from France in the following areas:

• provide training for SMEs and Mauritian cooperative societies;

• a possible Memorandum of Understanding with the French authorities and institutions responsible for the development of SMEs and cooperative federations;

• the participation of SMEs and cooperative societies in Mauritius in activities that are organized in Reunion and France.

The French Ambassador Emmanuel Cohet demonstrated the interest of France to consolidate SMEs, as well as cooperatives. The ambassador elaborated on the events that will take place this year, where it is planned to include Mauritian SMEs.

Meanwhile, the French Embassy formulates proposals for aid plans and cooperation axes between the two countries and discussions will continue for a more advanced collaboration in the field of SMEs and cooperatives.