Speech of Hon. Xavier-Luc Duval, Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development
Honorable Henry Bellingham MP, Undersecretary of State and Minister for Africa
Honorable David Ruffley MP, Senior Member Treasury Select Committee
Honorable Minister, your presence here demonstrates the support of the British Government to Mauritius, and this accordingly underlines the important role that the island can play in furthering economic development in Africa.
Hon David Ruffley, a dear friend of Mauritius will be devoting a whole day to this Conference, acting as a moderator for the Conference. I would also like to thank Mr. Jean Maigrot, the man behind the scene and without whom this event would not have been a success.
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Thank you for all for presence today.
We have in the assistance today 34 representatives from the Mauritian private sector, experienced professionals and captains of industry. I invite you to meet them during the various breaks in the Conference.
Mauritius is a success story, having successfully shifted from being a poor country at independence with a monocrop economy to a middle income country today. We have no natural resources, but we have other assets.
All of you know Mauritius as a popular tourist destination, but Mauritius has so much more to offer. Indeed, tourism constitutes only 8% of the GDP in Mauritius while for our peers such as the Maldives and Seychelles it plays a pivotal role in the economy, representing around 30% and 17.2% of the GDP, respectively.
Indeed, contributing increasingly to the Mauritian Economy, the financial services represent around 10% of the GDP, of which the global business sector represents around 5%. Also, the manufacturing sector represents 18% of our GDP. Last year, for instance, we have had considerable growth of around 10% in the ICT/BPO sector.
Mauritius has also won international acclaim from the Wall Street Journal. Mauritius was also ranked 8th in the World in the Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom Index, ahead of the USA, Ireland, Denmark and even the United Kingdom, who is ranked 14th. In addition, Mauritius ranks 23rd in the Ease of Doing Business Index, by the World Bank, hence placing us ahead of Taiwan, Switzerland and France. Forbes places Mauritius 19th in terms of the Best Countries for Doing Business ranking. More notably, Mauritius ranks 1st in the Mo Ibrahim Good Governance Index.
Mauritius is endowed with a multi racial and fully bilingual population of 1.3 million inhabitants. Acanchi, the famous British branding firm has stated that the ethnic diversity of Mauritius is the main reason for its success.
Mauritians are highly literate and we have a great number of professionals, in the likes of lawyers, accountants and doctors. Indeed, the number of accountants per thousand is 110/100,000, which is more than the UK, Luxembourg, France and Germany, and the number of doctors per thousand is 120/100000, whereas in Madagascar, the figure is 20/100000 and in Zambia and Uganda, the figure is 10/100,000.
Being, fully democratic, Mauritius has regular free and fair elections, the next one being scheduled to take place in 2015. Politics is the national sport in the island.
However, during the past 30 years, all parties have consistently been aligned to support the economic policy in Mauritius. We have, as a testimony to this, 1 or 2 members of the parliament who are in the Opposition Party as guests to the Conference today.
We also have a fully independent judiciary, with the UK Privy Council being the highest court of appeal.
We have excellent communication facilities and are connected to 2 undersea cables.
I would like to thank the efforts of our Mauritian people for having achieved a per capita income of 8500 USD. Although we are presently a middle income country, we are endeavoring, through the Economic and Social Transformation Programme to move to a high income country, and indeed play a major role in the economic development of Africa.
All our economic fundamentals are right. Our debt to GDP ratio is 54% FDI is holding up, with the country having received more this year, compared to last year in terms of FDI. There is also a good resilience to external shocks owing to our diversification strategy.
Despite having achieved a growth rate of 3.6%, we are conscious that Mauritius is still vulnerable to external shocks. However, in the long term, by increasing labour productivity and by seeking new geographical markets, we are seeking to reduce our vulnerability.
We are on Moody’s positive watch for upgrading from actual Baa2 grade.
Mauritius is also an excellent place to live. It is a democracy, with rule of law. There is a very low crime rate. The climate is excellent, and Yale University has ranked Mauritius 6th worldwide in the Environment Performance Index. Mauritius is also 2nd Worldwide in the Air Quality Index of the World Heritage Foundation.
Mauritius is fortunate to have an excellent education. Reputed boarding schools such as the Wellington College are coming to Mauritius. We have 600 Integrated Resort Schemes encouraging High Net Worth Individuals to come to Mauritius. Acanchi depicts Mauritius as a place where foreigners are not just tolerated but actually warmly welcomed.
Mauritius, being geographically and politically close to Africa, is able to participate fully in African development policies. We are members of SADC and COMESA. Being at the doorstep of Africa, Mauritius can potentially have a major role in the development of Africa.
Africa has established itself as a new frontier where growth potential is enormous. It is not only a commodity market. Indeed, good governance is taking hold of economic governance. There is a huge market for middle classes and the youth in Africa, mainly in terms of needs for technology and infrastructure.
Mauritius is home to the IMF, Afritac South office and is hence an excellent place to launch your African venture. We offer a fully integrated service and propose to mitigate your risk in an overseas environment.
Dear Guests, all this is already happening. We have a variety of private equity funds already established in the island, such as Bob Geldorf Private Equity Fund and Buffalo Bicycles.
We are professionals with excellent communications infrastructure. Mauritius offers also a wide array of advantages. The island is a low tax jurisdiction
It is a low tax jurisdiction - We have 3% tax in the offshore sector, while there is 0% tax on our Freeport. Tax holiday has been extended indefinitely, while it was previously only for 5 years. Most Occupation Permits are issued in 3/5 days.
Government is proactive in promoting a business friendly environment and is particularly committed to develop the financial sector: 2 major financial laws have been voted in parliament during the last 6 months (Limited partnership bill, foundation bill- soon private pension bill and limited liability partnerships bill)
Our new airport will be operational next year. We want to create an air port hub and get business not only for passengers, but also for freight, maintenance and leasing. We also have the safest and one of the most efficient sea ports of the region. Another advantage that Mauritius offers is that dispute settlement for commercial matters are fast-tracked and solved rpidly.
Mauritius is situated in a convenient time zone. We have a stock market. We have 13 Double Taxation Agreements signed with African countries and are actively pursuing other DTAs. We have recently signed a DTA with Kenya and are negotiating with Gabon for another DTA. We will be signing our DTA with Nigeria in August.
Mauritius provides for value added and fully integrated services to the financial sector in Africa. We will create a centre of excellence in Africa, which will be a knowledge centre, fully funded and appropriately staffed. We have Mauritian companies everywhere in Africa and international companies are increasingly setting up in Africa through Mauritius. Mauritius provides additional security as well as access to SADC and COMESA markets. Indeed, Mauritius has a strong business friendly policy towards Africa.
Mauritius IS your business passport to Africa.
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment