President Honorable Kailash Purryag & then Deputy Prime Minister of Mauritius in an earlier recorded interview. Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Rajkeswur Purryag explains why he is hopeful of stronger India-Mauritius relations in the future. According to Mr Purryag, the present government of Mauritius under its dynamic leader Hon. Navinchandra Ramgoolam is committed to building even stronger ties between the two countries. Here, Mr.Rajkeswur Purryag in an exclusive interview with Rajiv Agnihotri touches on all the relevant issues.
It is with great pleasure that, at Opinion Express, we have learned that Mr. Rajkeswar Purring has been elected fifth president of the Republic of Mauritius. It is, we feel, the culmination of a rich political career after he has served as Speaker of the National Assembly. It is said of him that he exercised his duties as Speaker with objectivity and impartiality and this goes to his credit. From modest beginnings, Mr. Purryag has patiently worked his way up to reach where he now is. This is no mean achievement. Mr.Purryag can serve as an example for those who have a goal in life. He illustrates what can be achieved with dedication and a sense of purpose.
Mr.Purryag became an attorney in 1973 and joined the Labor Party. He stood as a candidate for the general elections in 1976. He occupied different ministerial posts in the course of his political career. We can recall that he was Minister of Social Security from 1980 to 1982, Minister of Health from 1984 to 1988, and Minister of Economic Development and Telecommunications from 1995 to 1997. From 1997 to 2000 he was Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Commerce. He became Speaker in 2005.
Our best wishes are with Mr.Kailash Purring now that he is President of our Republic. We have no doubt that he will “uphold the standard of the Presidency with a decorum that his office demands” as the Jon. Prime Minister, Dr. Navinchandra Ramona said in the Assembly. Opinion Express congratulates Mr.Rajkeswar Purring wholeheartedly. His loyalty to the Labor Party has been rewarded. We have no doubt that he will exercise his new responsibilities with joy and the acumen that goes with them. He is well aware of the task that awaits him as he embarks on another stage of his already rich career. We are aware that he reads Opinion Express regularly. This, no doubt, adds to our pleasure that he is now at Le Redid.
OE. It is under the leadership of Hon. Navinchandra Ramgoolam, that the relationship between the two countries has grown manifold, what future do you foresee for strengthening the relationship even further in sectors like tourism and economy?
KP. Yes, I think the relationship between India and Mauritius has been further consolidated by Dr. Navin Ramgoolam and we are working together to set the economic sector within the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation and we know this initiative was put forward by Mauritius, and that today Mauritius, India, Australia and other member states of the Indian Ocean Rim are playing a very important role to promote the economic interest of the member states. I think within that association, our relationship is further consolidated in the economic sector. As for our tourist sector, we have recently received many Indian businessmen who have come to Mauritius to invest in the tourist sector and I know one or two groups who are actually constructing hotels. Once this construction is over, it will enhance the relationship between our two countries.
OE. Mauritius has done exceedingly well on the economic front in the last few years. The Island being the gateway of the African continent can work as a catalyst between the Asian & African economic areas but unlike Hong Kong, Mauritius till date is not recognized as it should be, what special efforts are being undertaken by your government to pro- mote this vital issue on the global scale?
KP. Yes, you see that Mauritius has done very well not for the last two or three years but in the last two decades.
Since our independence, we are striving very hard to put in place a strategy for the socioeconomic development of the country and after thirty years of independence, today we can say that we have achieved a certain level of economic development as you know and today Mauritius is considered as a success story of the African continent. Earlier Mauritius was known neither in the African continent nor in the international community. It is now that Mauritius is being cited in all forms despite being a small island, we have achieved tremendous growth on the economic front. Therefore, we are doing everything possible within our means today to position ourselves as a hub of economic activities and poised to become a gateway between Asia and Africa. In that context, we are creating a free port, as the Government of Mauritius has invested a lot of money in the port of Mauritius just to create support to attract business here and we are trying to develop a very strong service economy. So, we are trying to re-engineer our economy in such a way that we have skills in Mauritius to be able to become a service economy and to provide the necessary manpower. Again I must say that we have come out with a plan of action to review our educational system so as to adapt it to our concept of economic development and cater to our needs both in terms of infrastructure as well as human resource development. We are doing a lot of work to prepare ourselves in order to position Mauritius as a hub to provide a link as a gateway between Asia and Africa.
OE. Mauritius is an international tourist destination but the exchange of tourists between India and Mauritius is in single digit percentage to their overall tourist strength. What measures are being taken at the Government level to boost tourist exchange between the two countries?
KP. You have rightly said Mauritius is an international tourist hub. Today we receive more than 500,00 tourists mainly from Europe. From India, we have very little tourist inflow. We are doing our best to get Indian tourists to come to Mauritius but it all depends on the tourists themselves.
Mauritius has established a reputation as a tourist destination which is known in India. I think that the Ministry of Tourism will perhaps hold certain manifestations in India to promote Mauritius as a tourist destination in the Indian community.
OE. Indian businessmen are very keen to invest in Mauritius through Free Port and MOBAA, what are the incentives that Mauritius offers?
KP. There is a package of incentives that have been put in place to attract businessmen in Mauritius, especially in MOBAA. We have a bilateral agreement with India, which is one of the most favorable agreements. I think we have a very interesting package that has to be taken into account by future investors who want to invest in Mauritius.
OE. What is your message for the people of India on the occasion of the 50th year of their Independence?
KP. Well, we must say that India has made a lot of progress in the industrial field and the progress has been so much that India today has become an industrial power in the world. India is an economic power in waiting, what is important is unity, peace, and stability along with economic progress because unless you have peace, stability and unity, economic progress in a real sense can not be achieved. Similar conditions are existing in Mauritius, for example, in coordination with all the main communities here, we have been able to create political and social stability in order to make economic development. So I think that India since independence has made a lot of progress that needs to make more progress in order to cater to its population and for this you need to have peace, stability and unity.
-BY PRASHANTR TEWARI & RAJIV AGNIHOTRI FOR OE NEWS BUREAU AT MAURITIUS
OpinionExpress.In
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