EDB drives stronger partnerships and trade opportunities with Finland
7 May 2019
The Economic Development Board of Mauritius (EDB) in collaboration with Finnpartnership, a government institution promoting business partnerships, hosted a Business Forum on Monday 6th May 2019 at Labourdonnais Waterfront Hotel in Port Louis.
The event themed “Mauritius-Finland: Exploring Trade and Investment Opportunities” provided a shared platform to showcase trade and investment opportunities in Mauritius and Finland.
In this context, his Excellency Mr. Kari Alanko, Ambassador of Finland in South Africa led a strong business delegation for a trade and investment prospection mission from 5th to 7th May 2019 in Mauritius. The delegation comprised Government officials and prospective Finnish investors from private companies in the fields of ICT, R&D and Education.
Mauritius and Finland share a long-standing relationship which dates back 45 years. To further reinforce the existing diplomatic and bilateral relationship, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the EDB and Finnpartnership. The objective of this MoU is to promote and enhance trade and investment between Mauritius and Finland. Moreover, the two countries have signed an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) in 2007 followed by a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) in 2012 as well as a Bilateral Air Services Agreement in 2016.
The Business Forum organised by the Economic Development Board has been an instrumental platform to consolidate existing trade and business relations. In his keynote address, Mr. François Guibert, CEO of EDB, underscored that “We are consolidating the existing markets for trade and investment and are also actively diversifying our outreach strategy to new and emerging markets. A total of 20 Finnish companies, through Finnpartnership and Business Finland, have expressed their interests in exploring Trade and Investment relations with the Mauritian Business Community. This event will be a platform for fruitful exchanges about trade opportunities and joint ventures. In line with its mission, EDB will further provide the adequate support in this endeavour.”
This new impetus also looks reciprocal in terms of set goals. Finland’s education system has a proven track record of quality education and is regarded as one of the best in the world coupled with its unmatched technological advancement and innovation. On the other hand, Mauritius is regarded as the technological hub of Africa.
In the opening speech, His Excellency, Mr. Kari Alanki, Ambassador, Embassy of Finland (Pretoria) pointed out that Mauritius ranks 1st in Africa and 20th globally in the World Bank Doing Business Report 2019, three places behind Finland which is ranked at the 17th in the report. His Excellency observed that the performance of Mauritius in the Doing Business Report is a key reason which attracts Finnish investors and businesses to the Mauritian shores.
This event has marked an important milestone in EDB’s drive to deepen investment and trade opportunities between Mauritius and Finland and provided an outlook for potential investments and partnerships between the two countries.
