"We are now fully compatible with all the international guidelines at the level of OECD to make it a clean offshore," he told Asia News International, continuing: "We want to develop ourselves into a financial centre so it is in our interest to see that our reputation stays good. We ourselves, more than anybody else, realise that we need to have a clean centre, which we have today."

The Foreign Affairs Minister went on to suggest that Mauritius provides the ideal gateway to Southern Africa for Indian investors under the auspices of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) recently signed by the Indian and Mauritian authorities.

"It is a big market, including South Africa and other southern African states. By virtue of the preferential agreement (with the African Development Community), we have a trade protocol, moving to a free trade area. Products from Mauritius can have a quota-free access to these markets," he told ANI.