Addis Ababa, 9 December 2020 (ECA) – The private sector in Mauritius needs to cooperate with the government to enable it realize its Africa strategy incorporating the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade Mr. Nandcoomar Bodha said.
The minister made the appeal during the country’s AfCFTA strategy meeting held on 9 December in the capital Port Louis with technical support provided by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and financial assistance of the European Union (EU).
Mr. Bodha said by cooperating with the government, the private sector would be complementing the country’s Africa Strategy in many ways, adding: “In this connection, Mauritius may find a niche market that might explore the entire African continent.”
Under its Africa plan, the minister said Mauritius was building two warehouses in Mozambique and Tanzania with the possibility of a third one may be built in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombassa.
Speaking at the meeting, the EU ambassador to the Republic of Mauritius and Seychelles, Vincent Degerte, pledged continued support for the AfCFTA “since it will be a new pillar not just for Africa but for the whole world.”
The EU was considering expanding the current partnership between the two continents at their summit next year and would focus its attention, but not limited to, access to energy, digital transformation and sustainable development, he said.
“The AfCFTA will act as an anchor for the long-term partnership,” said Mr. Degerte.
The meeting was attended by public officials, private sector operators, representatives of the ECA, the African Union Commission and non-governmental organizations.
Mauritius became the fifth country in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to ratify the agreement in September 2019. The AfCFTA agreement, once operational next month, will be the world’s largest by the number of participating countries.
It will be a market of 1.2 billion people with a combined gross domestic product of US$2.5 trillion and constitute a significant milestone towards the realization of the African Union’s Agenda 2063 for the socio-economic transformation of the continent as well as the UN 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.
The ECA through its African Trade Policy Centre (ATPC) has been working with the AUC to deepen Africa’s trade integration through the effective implementation of the agreement by supporting the AfCFTA ratification process through policy advocacy.
The agreement entered into force on 30 May 2019 after the treaty was ratified by 22 countries -- the minimum number required under the treaty -- out of the 54 that agreed to be members of the bloc. To date, 34 countries have formally submitted their instrument of ratification with the AUC.
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