01-03-2021 | 15:46 PM
Comprehensive Economic cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between India and Mauritius
Context
The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved signing of the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA) between India and Mauritius on February 17.
Key Highlights
The India-Mauritius CECPA will be the first trade Agreement to be signed by India with a country in Africa.
The Agreement is a limited agreement, which will cover Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Financial services, Customs Procedures and Cooperation in other Areas.
This agreement was signed with the aim of liberalising the norms to boost a two-way commerce.
The Agreement will be signed by the concerned from both the countries on a mutually convenient date and will come into force from 1st date of the following month.
This agreement will cover 310 export items for India such as foodstuff & beverages, textile & textile articles, base metals, agricultural products, electricals & electronic items, plastics & chemicals, wood & its articles.
Mauritius will also get preferential market access into India for some 615 products. These products would range from specialty sugar, biscuits, frozen fish, mineral water, fresh fruits, juices, beer, alcoholic drinks, medical & surgical equipment, soaps, bags and apparel.
Both have agreed to negotiate Automatic Trigger Safeguard Mechanism (ATSM) for a limited number of highly sensitive products within two years of the Signing of the Agreement.
In the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement, the two trading countries cut or eliminate the duties on the products and liberalize the norms to promote the services trade.
The bilateral trade between both the countries has reduced to USD 690 million in 2019-20. In the year 2018-19 the trade stood at USD 1.2 billion in 2018-19.
About Mauritius
Mauritius is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about 2,000 kilometres off the southeast coast of the African continent.
It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as and Rodrigues, Agalega and St. Brandon. The islands of Mauritius and Rodrigues, along with nearby Reunion (a French overseas territory), are part of the Mascarene Islands.
Capital of Mauritius is Port Louis.
Mauritius is the only country in Africa where Hinduism is the main religion.
Mauritius is categorized as "very high" in the Human Development Index.
