Mauritius, Pakistan to strengthen cooperation in several sectors

October 03, 2018: Mauritius and Pakistan have expressed the willingness to reinforce bilateral cooperation in several sectors and underscored the necessity to bring a new dynamism at the level of Mauritius-Pakistan trade exchanges in the context of the current Preferential Trade Agreement.

The Mauritius Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo, and the newly appointed High Commissioner of Pakistan to Mauritius, Dr. Syed Rizwan Ahmed, met in Port Louis to discuss the way forward.

To that end, working committee has been set up to review barriers with a view to coming up with proposals to stimulate trade activities between both countries as well as to address any existing imbalance.

Mauritius aspires to play a strategic role between Asia and Africa and, to that end, it can offer several opportunities to Pakistani enterprises which have started or are considering to start activities on the continent, he said.

Discussions also focused on how Mauritius's financial centre can be used by Pakistan as a platform for international investments towards the African continent.

Other issues related to cooperation in fields such as healthcare and higher education were also raised. Under the Pakistan Technical Assistance Programme, Mauritius has obtained 16 study scholarships in the fields of medicine, pharmaceutics and engineering.

In addition to political and economic ties, the two countries wish to bring their peoples together through cultural, culinary and sporting events.

(APP)