Target for exporters is Rs50bn

Mr Guillaume Hugnin was elected president of the Mauritius Exports Association yesterday during the annual meeting. He succeeds Mr Mookesh Gopal.

Mr Guillaume Hugnin said that his objectives would be also to develop other sectors of the economy, especially the agroindustry “which has a very good potential”.

He added that the Duty Free Island concept is also a very interesting project which would give more opportunities to local enterprises.

Minister of Industry and Commerce Mr Showkatully Soodhun said that export oriented enterprises demonstrated resilience to external shocks as evidenced by a robust growth of around 6% and a record export figure of Rs40 billion for 2010.

“We firmly believe that we will be able to maintain the growth momentum in 2011,” he added. “Our aim is to increase our total exports from Rs40 billion in 2010 to Rs50 billion in 2013. In this context, the mandate of Enterprise Mauritius was reviewed to focus solely on export promotion activities,” he added.

His ministry has developed a three-year export development plan to help local enterprises attain the vision of government. “The plan covers activities to stimulate our exports through consolidation of our traditional markets, diversification into new products and markets as well as boosting the export readiness of enterprises.”

He said that for 2011, government would inject Rs140 million for such activities. “We want our SMEs, women entrepreneurs and the domestic enterprises to be more aggressive in the export domain. We will do everything to favour their participation in our forthcoming buyers-sellers meetings and other international fairs,” the minister added.

The minister added that the recent duty-free access to the European Union market for Least Developed Countries effective as from January 2011 has put additional pressure on our enterprises.

The minister said the right prescription for Mauritius to stand a chance is by focusing on high value-added items “as we are no longer competitive in basic products”.

By Nitesh Boodhoo