The Hindu : National : A `non-partisan' visit to Mauritius

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Wednesday, Mar 30, 2005

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National

A `non-partisan' visit to Mauritius

By K. Venugopal

NEW DELHI, MARCH 29. This is cyclone season in the small, picturesque island of Mauritius in the south-west Indian Ocean. Not more than 50 km at its widest, the island often comes in the track of a train of cyclones that swirl across the tropical ocean each summer. Obviously tourism, one of the biggest income earners for the 1.2 million population does not quite fancy the disruptions that such tropical cyclones cause. Last week the airport was shut down for several hours as another of those tropical cyclones headed for Port Louis bringing heavy rain and flooding. Eventually the storm, having come almost 100 km off the shore, veered away much to the relief of the million people on the island and its tourists.

A different kind of buzz will greet another tourist, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, when he arrives on Wednesday on a four-day visit. For this is election season as well, and an equally ferocious political battle is under way. Dr Singh's counterpart, Paul R. Berenger, and his allies led by Sir Anerood Jagnauth, are winding down to the end of their five-year term in office. Sir Jagnauth had been Prime Minister for the first three years and Mr. Berenger had taken over the baton in September 2003, in accordance with the power-sharing arrangement worked out between the allies. Soon after Dr. Singh leaves, it would be time for the Government to present the annual budget and call for elections.

The timing of Dr. Singh's visit, therefore, has come in for some debate in political circles in the island for the influence it might have on voter preferences. With 68 per cent of the population being of Indian origin, India and its leadership bear hugely upon the ethnic population here. Mr. Berenger, who belongs to the Franco-Mauritian community that constitutes barely 3 per cent of the population and counts on securing support from the ethnic Indian community to return to power, has always endeavoured to keep his relationship with India on a pedestal. He has made no bones about it, and his first visit abroad as Prime Minister was to India.

The Opposition, chiefly the Mauritius Labour Party led by Navin Ramgoolam, son of the first Prime Minister, Sir Sewoosagur Ramgoolam, believes it has a great chance of winning as indicated by some of the opinion polls conducted in recent weeks. Any endorsement, overt or seeming, of Mr. Berenger and his coalition government by Dr. Singh during this visit, could well alter the equations, and this is something the Opposition would hardly appreciate.

At a press briefing here on the eve of the visit, an External Affairs Ministry spokesperson took pains to stress the point that Dr. Singh's visit was "totally non-partisan" and that no other meaning need be read into it.

On his part, Dr. Singh would like to steer clear of the domestic politics and stress more on the economic content of his visit. Mauritius has been a prominent partner in India's economic development in the decade after Dr. Singh introduced economic reform and opened the doors to foreign investment. Helped by low taxes and active government backing, Mauritius has been host to global companies that have routed their investments in India through the island. Many of the companies might not have much more than name boards in the capital, Port Louis, but together they have made the island the country with the largest investment in India since 1991.

During his visit, Dr. Singh is expected to discuss with Mr. Berenger a joint working group study on a Free Trade Agreement between the two countries that would lower or eliminate customs duties on goods. While Mauritius has been pushing for this dispensation for some time to match the agreement on the flow of investment, the Commerce Ministry in New Delhi has been wary.

Mauritius has had little to export to India (all of $7 million in 2003-04 against India's $230 million exports to the island). The sugar, tea and textiles that figure strongly in its exports are not what India seems keen on buying. The prospect that has worried the Commerce Ministry has been of third countries routing their exports through Mauritius and dumping their goods in India. The Ministry therefore seemed to favour a preferential trade agreement where the duty concessions would be limited to a few select goods.

India, of course, would like to see more of its goods in the $2 billion Mauritius shopping bag. Removal of tariffs is expected to facilitate the process

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