The European Union and the Republic of Mauritius have a long-standing and solid partnership based on shared values such as respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and a strong commitment to promoting a rules-based global order. Annual EU-Mauritius Political Dialogue provides the opportunity to discuss common global challenges and further strengthen the partnership.
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the EU has mobilized rapidly all its forces to respond to the priority needs of Mauritius to address the sanitary, economic and social impact.
Mauritius is engaged in close political dialogue with the EU as provided under Article 8 of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.
The first annual Political Dialogue with the Government of Mauritius took place in 2011. The latest Political Dialogue took place on 11 November 2021.
Economic Relations, Trade and InvestmentTrade
Mauritius (together with the Seychelles, Madagascar and Zimbabwe) signed an interim Economic Partnership Agreement (iEPA) with the EU in 2009. The agreement has been provisionally applied since May 2012. The Comoros ratified the ESA EPA in February 2019 and began applying the Agreement immediately.
EPAs are reciprocal and go beyond conventional free-trade agreements. It opens EU markets fully and immediately, allowing long transition periods for partner countries to open up partially to EU imports while providing protection for sensitive sectors.
The ESA iEPA is a development-oriented agreement that provides duty-free, quota-free access for all ESA-EPA exports to the EU from the first day of application of the EPA. For their part, ESA-EPA countries are progressively reducing their tariffs to zero for 80% or more of their EU imports, in line with the individual schedules annexed to the EPA. Under the EPA, Mauritius has liberalized 96% of its tariff lines. The last round of tariff cuts has been implemented by Mauritius beginning 2022.
To protect certain sensitive agricultural markets and industries in ESA-EPA countries and to maintain tax revenues, the ESA-EPA countries will not remove import duties for some agricultural and non-agricultural processed goods. Some products excluded from liberalisation for Mauritius are: Live animals and meat, edible products of animal origin, fats, edible preparations and beverages, chemicals, plastics and rubber articles of leather and fur skins, iron & steel and consumer electronic goods.
On 2 October 2019, the EU started negotiations with five Eastern and Southern Africa partners (so-called ESA: the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, the Seychelles and Zimbabwe) to deepen the existing Economic Partnership Agreement. More information on the negotiation rounds, reports and initial textual proposals are available on https://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/press/index.cfm?id=2110
In 2020, despite the pandemic, the European Union (EU) has remained the main trading partner of the Republic of Mauritius with 24.7% of total trade.
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Fisheries
The EU and Mauritius have also built a solid partnership in the area of fisheries with successive sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreements. These provide EU vessels with fishing opportunities in the waters over which the Republic of Mauritius exercises its sovereignty or jurisdiction.
In this context, the EU provides Mauritius with the following financial contribution: