Mauritius Cabinet Approves National ICT Strategy

by Lorys Charalambous, Tax-News.com, Cyprus

26 October 2007

The Mauritian cabinet has approved a national ICT strategy, with the aim of elevating the jurisdiction towards the status of a regional technology hub over the next five years.

The National ICT Strategic Plan (NICTSP) 2007-2011 seeks to provide the right environment for the harnessing of ICT to generate employment, improve quality of life, and create new opportunities for the socio-economic development of Mauritius. The report identifies the primary targets to be achieved in two broad sectors, namely: Information Economy and Information Society.

The strategy's expected goals are a 7% contribution to the gross domestic product of Mauritius from offshore ICT export services, employment of at least 29,000 qualified individuals, employment of 90% of those who graduate in ICT, the doubling of the number of foreign investors, and Memoranda of Understanding for collaborative ventures in the field of ICT with countries in the region.

Other key objectives of the government's strategy include an increase in preference for ICT, with at least 50% acceptance for services available online, an increase in PC ownership by 20,000 households, and 12,000 PCs in primary schools, 150 Public Internet Access Points across the island, Internet connectivity and networking of all primary, secondary schools, and an increase in broadband penetration by at least 250,000.

The report consists of three sections: the first part outlines the approach taken towards evolving the strategy for the NCISTP; the second focuses on individual programmes, their description, project composition and implementation; and the last section describes the Implementation Framework required for the NCISTP, as well as an Institutional Framework required for the ICT sector.

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