We have no right to say that Mauritius has not taken the lead in the Indian Ocean region to bring to life the ocean economy project that would make use of our Exclusive Economic Zone, which is one of the largest in the world. Taking root under the former government with a full-fledged department up until the present one which has dedicated a whole ministry to the ocean economy, it is sad that the ocean industry project, tagged proudly as the ‘blue economy’ is being trampled under the foot of political gaffes.

The time wasted in failing to give life to this crucial industry is no doubt going to cost us heavily in the future. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent five-day trip to South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya, has already sent a strong signal to the other coastal nations of the Indian Ocean about India’s ambition in the area of maritime economy. Strategies to develop the blue economy in this part of the world were high on the agenda during his trip and it is no wonder that these four nations have sought the help of India to boost their maritime sectors. But it seems that our government has still not properly understood India’s move and how much our economic future as an island nation could be at stake. The least we can perhaps say about India’s strategy is that it is an open threat to us now.

Despite the recent amendments to the India-Mauritius tax treaty, the latter remains an important economic partner for Mauritius. We are not ignorant of India’s strong moves to amend the treaty that was costing its economy millions of dollars every year and that it had not left any stone unturned to bring the treaty in its favour.

And Mauritius too did not refuse India’s grant of Rs12.7 billion although the government rules it out as compensation for taking our offshore sector’s bread and butter. The Rs12.7 billion envelope will now partly finance Heritage City and a couple of other real estate ventures that till now have not convinced anyone of their viability. It is unfortunate that Mauritius did not deem it crucial to seek India’s help to shape up its blue economy with that particular financial grant instead of negotiating these risky real estate projects that will cost us billions of rupees and saddle us with more debts.

The only project that the government is flaunting under the name of the blue economy is the state-owned 46-acre barachois at Poudre d’Or which was given to MP Sandhya Boygah’s husband some months ago. And it is a shame that we have not heard of any other projects that could potentially help Mauritius become an ocean economy.

In the meantime, let’s hope that the Poudre d’Or barachois alone can help us vie with South Africa, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya that have already joined hands together to partner with India to invade this multi-billion dollar industry.

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