The Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mr Pravind Jugnauth, made this statement at the opening of a two-day Africa Partnership Conference on 20 September 2016 organised by the Board of Investment (BOI) in collaboration with the World Association of Investment Promotion Agencies on the theme: Creating Shared Value through Sustainable Investment at the Intercontinental Mauritius Resort Balaclava.

The Minister Jugnauth highlighted that Mauritius has set out a new Africa Strategy which rests on the following three main pillars:

1. Partnership for Development: The aim is to focus on collaborative learning models to share innovative, adaptable and cost-efficient solutions to address development challenges

2. Innovative G2G Approach: This focuses on a new model for boosting cross-border investment and trade – one that transcends multilateral efforts and the traditional signing of bilateral investment and taxation agreements.

3. Capacity Building: This centers around building human and institutional capacity, attracting FDI, and encouraging the transfer of technology and knowledge.

Minister Jugnauth expressed his optimism towards a brighter future for the African continent while he recalled that Africa is the future and has far to go and a lot to achieve in terms of development, less poverty and more sustainable growth and hence transforming itself into a land of prosperity. 

To attain these objectives, he called for tremendous policy efforts and massive mobilisation of resources so as to make of Africa the land of opportunities which he said will necessitate some US $500 billion investments over the next five years in telecommunications, energy, water, road networks and infrastructure amongst others.

On this score, he appealed to the business community to tap the various investment opportunities in Africa that will create jobs, raise the standard of living, reduce poverty, stimulate demand, leading to yet more investment and growth.

The Finance Minister recalled the several initiatives taken by Mauritius among which the setting up of the new Africa strategy in a spirit to consolidate our relations with other African nations as well as open up new avenues for cooperation and economic integration so as to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows into Africa and to promote intra-Africa investment flows.

He concluded by expressing his conviction that Africa can and will fulfil its determination to unlock investment and seize opportunities so as to lift the standard of living of our people, alleviate poverty in a significant way and play a bigger role in the global value chain.

On the second day, Honourable Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade highlighted the importance of ease of doing business for investors. The Minister also pointed out that corruption should be eliminated as it hinders the development of Africa.

Furthermore, it is crucial to improve air connectivity among African countries which will enable IPAs to effectively promote FDI and foster economic development.

The two-day conference brings together eminent speakers from around the globe as well as representatives from 19 African Investment Promotion Agencies, and some 150 potential investors from 25 countries across the world including both local and foreign participants from the private sector, policy makers and Government officials.

Moreover, the conference which is at its second edition is part of the Africa Strategy aimed at strengthening our relations with other African nations and in opening up new avenues for cooperation and economic integration. 

The Africa Partnership Conference 2016 is serving as unique platform in addressing infrastructural funding gap, which is a major constraint to optimising FDI flows in Africa and also to promoting Mauritius as a well-regulated platform offering security and comfort to investors while serving as the natural corridor to Africa which is an integral component of the Africa Strategy.

Three priority areas are being discussed during the conference namely: Attracting investment and private sector players to enhance the hard and soft infrastructure in Africa; Creating shared value by improving investment climate in Africa through better collaboration; and Positioning Mauritius as the platform for boosting trade and investment into Africa

It will be recalled that the BOI also signed two Memoranda of Understanding yesterday with Swaziland Investment Promotion Authority and the East Africa Trade Investment Hub thus bringing the total number of Investment Promotion Agreements signed so far to 31.