Republic of Mauritius- Some 4,000 Mauritian citizens to be repatriated by end July, says Minister Bodha

The
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade​, Mr Nandcoomar
Bodha, made this announcement, yesterday, in the National Assembly during his intervention
on Budget 2020-2021.

With
regards to the call of the Mauritian Government for cruise owners to shoulder
the responsibility and bear the cost of repatriating Mauritian employees
working on those cruise ships, Minister Bodha highlighted that appropriate
arrangements have already been made to bring back the Mauritian citizens in a
regular manner. He further pointed out that with the gradual opening of Dubai
airport and other hubs, it has been possible to reach out to some Mauritians
who were stranded in countries such as Pakistan, Istanbul among others.

In
his intervention, Minister Bodha also made an overview of the various sectors
that are severely affected by the Covid-19 situation namely the tourism industry
and the financial services sector. He also spoke of diplomacy whereby he added
that digital diplomacy is the new norm nowadays while countries across the
world are struggling for their economic revival. Digital diplomacy is here to
stay, underscored Mr Bodha and in this endeavor he reiterated the need to
connect with all member states for an enhanced cooperation in the interest of
one and all.

Speaking
of the European Union (EU) projection of putting Mauritius on the black list for
which the list will be released on 1^st October, Minister Bodha
underlined that Mauritius has expressed interest of being assessed as an
autonomous evaluation by the EU to address the deficiencies and that Mauritius
will be ready by August 2020. He further underscored that this evaluation
exercise which will be undertaken with the consultation, dialogue and expertise
of the EU, is crucial for Mauritius to maintain its good repute and clean
jurisdiction regarding its financial services sector.

The Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, also commented
on Government’s efforts to prevent, manage and control the spread of the
Covid-19 which, according to him, has reaped positive results. He attributed
the positive outcome to the sense of solidarity demonstrated by the population
at large and the Government in managing the situation in a proper manner and
concluded that Government has left no stone unturned in consolidating the
welfare state with a budget of around Rs 63 billion earmarked in budget 2020-2021
at a time where the world is facing both economic and social crisis in the wake
of the Covid-19 pandemic.