Mauritius was successively a French and a British Colony during the
period 1715-1968. Prior to the French settlers there has been the Dutch,
Portuguese, Arabs and Malays who never wished to colonize or were unsuccessful
in colonizing the island. Arabs and Malays visited Mauritius during the 10th
century while the Portuguese landed in the 16th century. The Dutch set foot on
the island in 1638 and the island was named in honor of Prince Maurice de
Nassau. The Dutch settlement lasted only 25 years and the Dutch abandoned the
Island in 1710 after 2 unsuccessful attempts of colonisation. The
island was renamed Ile de France under the French rule, starting in 1715. Under
the impetus of the French Governor Mahé de Labourdonnais boat construction
spurred and the merchant fleet grew to a substantial size. The
island saw a further improvement in the number of merchant fleet under the
British who captured the island in 1810 and renamed it Mauritius. The island was
declared a British colony four years later by the Treaty of Paris and remained
under British rule until 1968 when the island became independent. In 1992
Mauritius was declared a Republic and is a member of the Commonwealth of
Nation. Both
the French and British influence are still prevalent in Mauritius today. Besides
the English and French languages which are widely used, the Code Napoleon forms
an important part of our legal system but with strong overlap of English Law
modified by local enactments. This situation has over the years, created a
hybrid system of law derived from both French and English sources. Commercial
Law, Company Law, Criminal procedure and the Law of evidence are almost
exclusively English, while the Code Civil, the Code de Procédure Civile and the
Code de Commerce follow French Laws with some changes brought over time to suit
local conditions. We have also inherited a Westminster type of Government, a
Constitution, a Civil Service and a British type of education
system. Since
Independence, Mauritius is no more a sugar producing island only. Due to
diversification of the economy, the island entered into a new phase of its
development. There has been a shift from a-one-crop industry i.e. sugarcane to
textiles, tourism, agriculture, offshore business activities and shortly to an
IT development centre which will become the sixth pillar of the
economy. Mauritius is also very committed to the achievement of sustainable and
equitable development which represents a challenge especially where half of the
countries in the African continent rank among the least developed and poorest on
earth. We are favourable to the promotion of the region as a single destination
for investment, through well established regional organisations. Among
the other notable measures initiated by Mauritius are the signature of
multilateral and bilateral trade agreements, Promotion of the Double Tax
Avoidance Agreements to promote trade and investment through the removal of
double taxation on the same income, provision of lower tax rates on certain
incomes and last but not least providing certainty to business regarding their
tax liabilities and the introduction of Regional Development Certificates to
promote lucrative development projects.
Development of the country as a seafood
hub. The seafood hub initiative aims at developing
Mauritius into a platform for the storage, processing, and distribution of
fresh, chilled, and frozen raw or processed seafood. There is significant potential for value
added activities, including canning, sashimi, dressing, loining, sorting,
grading, cleaning, packing, filleting and blast freezing, to name just a
few. The
extra services associated with the seafood hub would be re-inforced to make
Mauritius even more attractive as a calling port for fishing vessels. | 
