Defending Mauritian sugar in the face of European reform

In 2004 the European Commission proposed cutting the guaranteed sugar price within the Union by about a third. For Mauritius, one of the main beneficiaries of the ACP Sugar Protocol, the stakes were vital.

To secure a sustainable timetable and accompanying measures for vulnerable sugar economies.

On 24 January 2005, at an informal meeting with the European Agriculture Ministers, he spoke for the ACP countries alongside the representative of Sudan, in the presence of the Commissioners for Agriculture, Development and Trade. He stressed that these vulnerable economies could not withstand such abrupt price cuts and needed time to adapt. In the same discussion, the Union raised an eight-year support plan to help partner countries diversify.

The voice of Mauritius and the ACP countries was heard at the highest European level as the restructuring of the sugar sector was being prepared.