Mauritius Prime Minister Supports E-Commerce Sector

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

14 April 2006

Prime Minister of Mauritius, Navin Ramgoolan, last week inaugurated the new offices of offshore management company International Financial Services in the Ebene CyberCity, expressing strong support for the e-commerce sector.

The Prime Minister paid tribute to the professionalism, the application, and the entrepreneurial and innovative qualities of the directors of IFS. Their efforts had made their company one of the leaders in their field, he said.

However, he criticized the Financial Services Promotion Agency (FSPA), which he said had not done all it could to position Mauritius at the forefront of the developing e-commerce sector internationally. He asked the FSPA to be more aggressive in marketing terms and to adopt creative strategies to attract more operators to the offshore sector.

The CyberCity has attracted about 25 operators so far. Built with support from India, and just 15 minutes drive from Port-Louis, the CyberCity has free zone status and offers tax advantages to its occupants. Spread over an area of about 172 acres, the Ebène CyberCity is divided into 7 zones, with each zone being provided with water, power, roads, drainage and other facilities. The entire CyberCity is wired with optic-fibre and copper cables to provide high speed international bandwidth on tap.

Mauritius has recently placed more emphasis on development of its offshore sector, and the Prime Minister said that he entirely supported the recent 'paradigm shift' of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) as regards the regulation of the offshore economy, which he said should be flexible and effective.

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