- February 22, India signed its first free trade agreement (FTA) with Mauritius, its first such agreement with an African nation. Known as the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA), the historic pact will strengthen regional commercial ties.
- The trade pact is India’s first such agreement since 2011, and it will be providing a timely boost for the revival of our post-Covid economies and also enable Indian investors to use Mauritius as a launch-pad for business expansion into continental Africa helping the prospect of Mauritius emerging as a ‘hub of Africa’
- Key benefits of the trade agreement will include trade in goods, trade in services, non-tariff measures and technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, trade facilitation, investment, technical regulations, custom procedures, rules of origin, dispute settlement, trade remedies, etc
- The trade agreement will also cover bilateral services trade, which includes business services, educational services, communication, construction, environmental services, distributional services, financial, health-related, and social services, recreational, cultural & sporting services, transport services, and travel & tourism services.
- CECPA will provide a gateway and will be beneficial for Indian exporters and businesses to expand their investments and commercial interests in the African continent.
- Defense Line of Credit (LOC) agreement worth US$100 million, which is expected to assist Mauritius to procure defense assets from India. Defense security will be necessary, among other things, for smooth international trade
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