Future relations between Pakistan and Mauritius should be based on market access and trade especially in context of Mauritius acting as a gateway to African markets for Pakistani products.

This was stated by High Commissioner of Mauritius Muhammad Rashad Daureeawo during a meeting with Zafar Bakhtawari, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) at Chamber House.

Daureeawo said that Mauritius has a population of only 1.5 million but attracts around 1million tourists annually that is due to peaceful and good environment. The High Commissioner also called for exchange of business delegations to increase bilateral trade and dissemination of trade-related information.

High Commissioner said that legal framework for resolution of trade-related disputes has been very strong in Mauritius that provides a visible advantage to the foreign businessmen. He said that Mauritius topped World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking as the tax regime has been very soft and encouraging.

He said that Mauritius is ranked high in terms of competitiveness, investment climate, governance and freest economy, adding that the government of Mauritius provides free education to its citizens from pre-primary to tertiary levels which make Mauritius as a regional knowledge hub and a centre for higher learning and excellence.

Zafar Bakhtawari, President ICCI lauded the dynamic role of Mauritian High Commissioner in strengthening bilateral relations and said that geographically Mauritius is far from Pakistan but culturally and socially both countries have very strong ties. He said that both the countries were enjoying good relations but there is still more scope which is needed to be tapped and observed that trade should not be restricted to a few subjects as current volume of trade was much below the respective potential.

Bakhtawari was of the view that Mauritius is coming up as a financial and trade hub for emerging Africa, therefore, we could use it to make inroads in African market as Africa is very rich in raw materials and many countries are already trying to benefit from it.ICCI President said that there was a huge scope for expansion in trade and the private sector has the responsibility to be a front-runner in creating new avenues of establishing trade and investments relations between Pakistan and Mauritius, adding that Pakistani goods were best of the best in the world and had the potential to win respectable place in Mauritius market.