Draft Speech by Hon - The Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and ...

Speech by Hon. Cader Sayed-Hossen, Minister of Industry, Commerce & ConsumerProtection on the Occasion of the AGM of the MCCILe Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel, Caudan28 March 2013 at 09.30 hoursDistinguished GuestsLadies and GentlemenGood MorningI feel privileged to be among you this morning on the occasion of this Annual General Assemblyof the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It is again with a special feeling that I ampresent at the Chamber as I still highly value the time I spent here as President, when I had theopportunity to interact and work with a dedicated team, with the objective of promoting thevital objectives set forth by the institution.I am glad the Chamber has continued to promote the interests of its members withcommitment, zeal and dynamism and has been in the forefront on key national, regional andmultilateral issues.I wish to thank the Chamber for the collaboration it has extended to Government and myMinistry on fundamental strategic issues which are critical to the interests of the industry andtrade sectors.Ladies and Gentlemen,At national level, the Chamber has engaged itself with dedication on a number of activities suchas training, organisation of national and regional workshops, information dissemination andpartnering with Government to develop strategies and policies for socio-economic development.The Chamber has also spared no efforts to uphold with Government our national economic andtrade interests in regional and international fora, be it the SADC, the COMESA and the WTO,among others.Ladies and GentlemenI have no doubt that the Chamber will continue to be a privileged partner of Government toconfront emerging challenges. In fact, the international trading and economic landscape

continues to be characterised by economic downturn in our major markets, stiffer competitionand new patterns of trade, which, altogether, require greater competitiveness among ourproducers.The economic forecast in the global economy does not herald a positive turn of events, as theEurozone is set to witness again difficult days in 2013, with negative economic contraction of0.2%. The crisis, unabated, continues to unravel new bail-outs which most of the time only justavoid a disaster situation.The latest bail-out of Cyprus is another classic example of the fragility plaguing the zone and thedepth of its financial and economic problems and which does not herald better days ahead in theshort term.Unfortunately also, the impact of the Eurozone crisis on global investment and growth hasalready been visible with slower growths in emerging economies such as India and China. TheU.S, another major market for our manufactured products, has not been able to shift to a morepositive and optimistic economic trajectory, with low growth of about 2% forecasted for thisyear.Ladies and gentlemen,In this difficult global economic context, the economy of Mauritius has not experienced majorsetbacks, although we recognise that the ripples of the economic downcast in our major marketshave had some collateral negative impact on our economic sectors.However, despite the dark clouds besetting our major markets, we have been able to achieve aneconomic growth of over 3% in 2012 while a forecast of 3.5% is generally believed to beachievable for 2013. At the same time, measures taken to sustain sound economic fundamentalsin terms of prudent debt to GDP ratio, low budget deficits and avoidance of high inflation havebeen successful.At micro-level, the manufacturing sector is expected to record a growth rate of 2% in 2013,denoting its continued resilience. The Export Oriented Enterprises Sector is forecasted tomaintain a positive growth 2.6 % for 2013.We should also place on record that the domestic manufacturing sector, despite increasing tradeliberalisation, has exhibited positive signs of development with gross total output expanding by4.5% over the last three years. Exports of locally manufactured products have increased to Rs 4.2billion in 2012 from Rs 3.2 billion in 2011.2

I am confident its importance to the economy would further improve as the sector graduatesinto more export-oriented production. I believe that with improved product quality andidentification of new markets, the sector can aspire for exports worth or exceeding Rs 10 billionby 2020.Ladies and gentlemen,There is no denying that the positive economic developments in the region and in emergingeconomies, through increasing market openings and economic expansion, have created newopportunities that we need to explore fully. I believe that the Africa strategy, as spelled out inlast budget, has all chances to deliver high dividends. The underlying factors of positivedevelopments in Africa are already depicted by the continent’s GDP which has been growing atan annual average of over 5% over the last years. At the same time, we in Mauritius should spareno efforts to identify products which can be exported to specific African countries, taking intoconsideration its increasing imports from the rest of the world.I also believe that we can aspire to position ourselves along an Asia-Africa corridor that is set tobe developed, through Freeport activities, as we are strategically located between the twocontinents. In this context, Enterprise Mauritius has also reviewed its Marketing Strategy tofacilitate the presence of our enterprises in the region, through 21 export promotion events.Ladies and Gentlemen,You may also be aware that my Ministry is implementing a project on Energy Efficiency andEnergy Conservation in Industries. This Project involves training of 50 participants in energyauditing and management to promote a green industry and facilitate the process of adoption ofbest practices in energy auditing and management in the corporate culture of enterprises.We are also implementing the fifth edition of the Mauritius Business Excellence Award which hasenabled the participants to successfully integrate fundamental quality management systems intheir operational framework and I believe that this project will act as a catalyst to firm up bestbusiness practices in our economic sectors.Ladies and Gentleman,My Ministry has emphasised closer collaboration with India which took a new dimension withthe visit of Honourable Anand Sharma, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles of theRepublic of India, to Mauritius in January last. As you know, he pledged assistance in a numberof areas including training of 1000 textiles workers, 35 scholarship programmes, and amongothers, the implementation of a programme called the Driving Industry towards Sustainable3

Human Advancement (DISHA).apparel produced in Mauritius.We also discussed the provision of a Tariff Rate Quota forIn fact, during my visit to India this year, I seized the opportunity to discuss the TRQ on appareland I am glad to announce that India has agreed to provide Mauritius with a Tariff Rate Quota of8 million pieces of garments annually, out of which 3 million pieces can be exported to Indiawithout rules of origin obligations. We are now in the process of finalising the implementationmodalities with India.My Ministry intends to work closely with Mauritian, Indian and South African operators andinvestors in the textile sector to make the India- Mauritius-South Africa Textiles Corridor becomea reality within the next 4-6 months. This initiative is supported by the Governments ofMauritius and of India – and I am planning to meet the Minister of Trade and Industry of theRepublic of South Africa, Honourable Rob Davies, by mid-April to enlist his adhesion to thisinstance of South-South cooperation.My Ministry is also collaborating with Indian authorities which are working on theimplementation modalities for the DISHA programme which will entail certification of tenenterprises to specific standards to be defined by Indian authorities. The ultimate objective is tofacilitate adherence to social and environmental norms which are increasingly required bybuyers.Ladies and Gentlemen,In respect of the Commerce Division of my Ministry, a number of measures have been taken asfollows:The preparation of a New Consumer Protection Bill is nearing completion. This Bill willprobably be introduced in Parliament by May 2013.Training and technical assistance have been sought from friendly countries to reinforceand improve the Consumer Protection Unit and the Legal Metrology Service.Ladies and Gentlemen,I understand that Mr. Mahmood Cheeroo will be somewhat ‘en retrait’ in his capacity asSecretary-General of the Chamber in some months’ time. I wish to place on record our deepappreciation of the contribution of Mr. Mahmood Cheeeroo, who has been associated with theChamber for a long time and whose efforts, commitment and dedication have been immense toenable the Chamber to fulfil its mandate successfully. I wish him well.May I end on this note by reiterating the fruitful collaboration between my Ministry and theMCCI. Allow me to offer my Best Wishes to All Members of the Chamber. Thank You.4