01Background
Negotiations concluded in September 2018, under his predecessor, paved the way for preferential access for Mauritian goods and services to Asia's largest market.
02Objectives
To diversify markets for Mauritian exporters and attract Chinese investment to Mauritius and, beyond it, to Africa.
03Results
The agreement was signed in Beijing on 17 October 2019 by the Ambassador of Mauritius and came into force on 1 January 2021, during Nando Bodha's tenure as Minister of International Trade. It opens 7,504 Chinese tariff lines duty-free, progressively raises the sugar quota from 15,000 to 50,000 tonnes over eight years and liberalises more than a hundred service sectors.
04Impact
Mauritius became the first African country bound to China by a free trade agreement, an asset for its role as a gateway between Asia and Africa.