Mauritius trade deal to be delayed

The finalisation of negotiations for a bilateral agreement between India and Mauritius has been delayed by a few weeks, with the island country insisting on operationalisation of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) along with the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).

Senior commerce ministry officials said both sides now hoped to conclude negotiations by the end of the calendar year.

India had initially proposed operationalisation of the preferential trade agreement in the first stage of the CECPA. This was expected to happen in January or April 2007.

At a recent meeting of senior officials from the two countries, tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on Mauritian rum, garments and refined sugar were discussed.

"India has offered a TRQ of 1.5 lakh litres for rum and three million for garments and 15,000 MT for refined sugar," an official said. In turn, Mauritius had offered a TRQ of 5 lakh litres for Indian wine, they said.

Officials added that the TRQ on garments was expected to be made conditional to sourcing of raw material for at least one million pieces from India.

India has already agreed to offer preferential tariffs on 70 items, while Mauritius has agreed to offer duty cuts on around 300 items under the PTA. In addition, New Delhi has offered tariff rate quotas in sugar, garments and rum.

New Delhi has offered to bring down duties on around 30 items to zero from the date the PTA becomes effective. On some other items, it has offered to bring down the duty to zero over four years, while on some the duty would be reduced over seven years, on a par with the duty reduction programme under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement.

Officials said Mauritius had offered to bring down the duty to zero on around 150 items, while cuts on the remaining items would be undertaken over a four-year period.

A Joint Study Group constituted in November 2003 to study the modalities of the CECPA discussed in detail the complementariness and potential synergies between the two economies.

In its report a year later, the group identified investment, trade in goods and services, and general economic cooperation for developing the modalities of CECPA.