Balaclava, Mauritius 25 March 2022 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade (MOFARIT), in collaboration with the Economic Commission for Africa’s African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) and Subregional Office for Southern Africa (ECA-SRO-SA), with funding from European Union (EU) organized a Validation Workshop on Mauritius’ National AfCFTA response strategy.
Speaking while officially opening the validation meeting, Mauritius’s Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, H.E. Ambassador Haymandoyal Dillum, noted that the government was cognizant of the great potential in fully implementing the AfCFTA.
The Secretary for Foreign Affairs underscored that Mauritius strongly believes that the implementation of the AfCFTA, which is a flagship project of the African Union Agenda 2063, will lead to the positive transformation of many African economies. As such, he observed there is a need to harness the benefits of the AfCFTA which will encourage and boost intra-African production, intra-African consumption, and intra-African trade and investment.
Ambassador Dillum advised the geographical diversification brought about by the African Continental Free Trade Area will open up new markets for Mauritius, and boost its economy by way of increased exports. “Under this agreement, Mauritius would have preferential access to a market of 1.3 billion consumers, with a combined gross domestic product (GDP) of $3.4 trillion”, he emphasised.
He stated that the National Response Strategy will act as a roadmap and provide guidance to improving the country’s development framework through economic diversification, development of regional value chains, expansion of products portfolio, increasing trade in both goods and services in Africa, and attracting more Foreign Direct Investment.
“The AfCFTA will provide a further incentive, in addition to advantages under the SADC and COMESA, for foreign operators to use Mauritius as a springboard to access the continent for trade and investment opportunities”, he added.
However, Ambassador Dillum advised that for the AfCFTA to bring meaningful and tangible results, it should be aligned with the broader Africa Strategy of Mauritius. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs also commended the UNECA and the EU for the assistance provided to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade in the organisation of the validation workshop.
“The discussions, he highlighted, will not only focus on trade and investment opportunities existing under the AfCFTA but will also contribute to devising a strategy on how to unlock these opportunities”.
Speaking at the same event on behalf of Ms. Eunice Kamwendo, Director of the ECA-SRO-SA, Ms Isatou Gaye, Chief of the Subregional Initiatives Section of the Office noted that Mauritius has a significant scope in the AfCFTA framework to overcome limitations of a small market size and associated diseconomies of scale through deepening its trade and investment ties with the African continent to both source inputs and market its products to new customers.
“Therefore, effective implementation of its National AfCFTA Response Strategy could be an additional lever to support Mauritius sustain the status of a high-income country and achieve its Vision 2030”, she added.
Ms Gaye further pointed out that most of Mauritius’s trading partners are from the EU, with only 23 per cent from the African continent. As such, the AfCFTA would open up the whole African market to Mauritian manufacturers while providing access to source materials within the continent. All these, she stated, are opportunities that the Mauritian businesses can leverage to ensure that the manufacturing sector is revamped. She further appealed to the Mauritian private sector to avail of the opportunities provided through the AfCFTA agreement.
She emphasized that ECA remains ready to collaborate with the UN system and development partners in the country to support the Government of Mauritius in the implementation of the recommendations of the Action Plan of its AfCFTA Response Strategy. ECA SRO-SA also applauded the European Union for its invaluable financial support that has been instrumental to the support ECA has been providing to member States in the AfCFTA process.
Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator a.i, Mauritius and Seychelles, Mr. Laurent Musango, stressed that in the current context with the COVID-19 pandemic having disrupted many economies around the world, promoting trade and investment with the African Continent is becoming increasingly important for Mauritius. The AfCFTA, according to him, will thus offer many opportunities to the Mauritian manufacturing sector so that the latter can thrive.
In her statement, First Secretary of the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Mauritius and the Republic of Seychelles and Head of the Regional Trade Section, Ms Alexia Schmiliver emphasised that the EU is thrilled about the continuous momentum of getting the AfCFTA off the ground as it is considered to be a real and effective gamechanger that will help Africa’s economic transformation. She also commended Mauritius for becoming one of the first countries of the region to ratify the AfCFTA agreement back in 2019.
The National AfCFTA Response Strategy of Mauritius was presented to stakeholders at the workshop. During the plenary session, Mr Luximon highlighted that high transport costs and limited connectivity to the African mainland remain significant impediments for Mauritius to trade with Africa. To partly address these issues, Mauritius, he said, has set up Warehouses in several countries on the mainland for its businesses. He also mentioned the possibility for Mauritius to source cotton from West Africa to meet the rules of origin requirements in textile and apparel under the AfCFTA. The potential of Mauritius to position itself as an economic hub in the region was also discussed.
Ms. Bineswaree Bolaky, Economic Affairs Officer, SRO-SA, highlighted that ECA was producing country-level reports, based on an AfCFTA Country Business Index to assess the readiness of the African private sector to implement the AfCFTA. The breakout sessions provided the opportunity to gather further inputs from both public and private sector representatives in order to fine tune the Action Plan of the Strategy.
Closing remarks were delivered by Mr. Dhananjay Luximon, Deputy Director of Trade, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade. He thanked all participants for taking time to attend the workshop and for the invaluable comments and inputs provided towards to finalization of the strategy. He said the next step would be to present the finalized strategy to Cabinet for consideration and adoption. He reiterated his ministry’s appreciation for the technical support provided by ECA, and the financial support from the EU that made it possible for Mauritius to develop and validate its National AfCFTA response Strategy.
The one-day Validation Workshop was attended by representatives from the private sector, civil society organizations, academia, micro, small and medium sized enterprises, representatives of parastatals and other ministries and institutions, among others.
Issued by:
The Sub-Regional Office for Southern Africa
UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA)
P.O. Box 30647, Lusaka, Zambia.
Contacts for further information:
Ms Bineswaree Bolaky| Economic Affairs officer| UNECA SRO-SA| Email: bineswaree.bolaky@un.org
Media Contacts:
Mr Bedson Nyoni | Senior Information Management Assistant | UNECA SRO-SA| Email: nyonib@un.org | Cell: +260 97 784 5948 | Web: https://www.uneca.org
Lavender Degre | Communications Officer | UNECA SRO-SA | Email: lavender.degre@un.org | Mobile +265995753144 | Web: https://www.uneca.org