Mauritius beckons Indian businessmen

Mumbai, Oct 15: A nine-member business delegation from Mauritius, led by Hindu Business Chamber president Shahil Ramchurn, called upon the Indian industry and trade to take advantage of the extremely low tariff status enjoyed by that country and use it as a gateway to enter the vast African, European and Pacific markets.

Mr Ramchurn said this while addressing a meeting hosted by Indian Merchants' Chamber (IMC) here recently.

Mr Ramchurn and IMC International Trade Committee's chairman Gul Kripalani also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for long-term cooperation and assistance on behalf of their respective Chambers. Also, the delegation had a one-on-one meeting with the Indian businessmen for exploring the prospects of business collaboration.

He said his tiny island nation, consisting of 14 lakh people - the bulk of whom are of Indian origin, could be advantageously used by the Indian businessmen as the gateway to enter the vast markets in countries of Africa, Europe and Pacific region, which extended a preferential treatment in terms of tariff and trade to Mauritius.

''All you have to do is to bring your goods to Mauritius and add requisite value and reexport to the third countries. India can competitively cater to the vast African continent, products such as drugs and pharmaceuticals, light as well as heavy engineering machinery, capital goods and a host of other goods and services,'' he said.

Mr Ramchurn said that the sugar industry, which was traditionally the backbone of the Mauritian economy, was facing a crisis owing to certain trade restrictions placed in Europe. Similarly, textiles, another major industry of his country, was also receiving severe drubbing from the cheap Chinese textiles.

''In a situation like this, we naturally count on India to help us and use Mauritius as the gateway to Africa, Europe and Pacific countries for mutual benefit,'' he said.

IMC Managng Committee's member Ashok Kadakia said both India and Mauritius should together produce high-value organic chemicals from molasses, which he described it as ''nothing but black gold''.

He urged both the IMC and the Mauritian Chamber to take steps to launch more frequent direct shipping services between the two countries.

''At present, there is only one direct service once in three or four weeks. And for more frequent goods transport, businessmen in both the countries were required to route their trade through Singapore,'' he said.

Mr Kripalani said that India and Mauritius were likely to sign a preferential trade agreement which could become operational within the next three or four months.

''India has agreed to offer preferential tariffs on 70 items, while Mauritius has agreed to offer duty cuts on around 300 items.

In addition, New Delhi has offered tariff rate quotas in sugar, garments and rum,'' he added.

UNI