India And Mauritius Continue CECPA Talks

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

28 February 2006

A fifth round of discussions between India and Mauritius concerning their Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) took place in New Delhi last week.

The countries hope that the Agreement will go into effect in March or April this year. Last week's meetings were seen as being crucial.

Rajeev Sahare, Acting Indian High Commissioner, says that subjects remaining for discussion included rules of origin, tariff levels, preferences and operating structures.

The meeting was expected to set in place procedures to implement the Indian Government's agreement to allow the duty-free import of 1 million Mauritian textile items.

The Mauritian team, led by Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Anand Priyaye Neewoor, was due to focus on the recommendations of a working group on health and safety aspects of the new regime.

Four previous rounds of discussions took place in 2005, after a joint Indian/Mauritian document identified the main areas of co-operation as including trade in goods and services, promotion of investment, tripartite co-operation (particularly in Africa) and co-operation in education and health, among other sectors.

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