Comments
The rather laid back mood at Port Louis, Mauritius, host to the first business conference of the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) member countries, was shaken by Navinchandra Ramgoolam, Prime Minister of Mauritius, in his opening address.
With just the right amount of wit, Ramgoolam said that he hoped it will not take another 15 years for the members to take forward this meet to the next level.
While acknowledging the issues and concerns faced by the region, he said there was a need to formulate a new trade and investment agenda.
He, however, was quick to point out that he was not pitching for a monetary union, as EU was an example of how wrong such unions could go. Ramgoolam called for greater ties in deep sea mining and pushed for Ocean Industry or blue economy by promoting sectors like mining of rare mineral resources under the earth.
He acknowledged the tremendous efforts that India has made in the last two years and also the significant contribution made to the fight against piracy. Ramgoolam also pushed for better intra-region trade agreements.
The IOR-ARC, since its inception in 1977, has been focusing more on strategies. This was the first Economic and Business Conference.
The capacity for growth, development and progress in the region has been evident in the increased economic activities of the IOR countries in recent years, and reflects in their GDP growth as also rise in foreign trade and capital flows.
The combined GDP of IOR-ARC member countries in 2012 increased to an estimated $6.9 trillion from $5.8 trillion in 2010.
By 2016, the combined GDP of IOR-ARC countries is expected to cross $9 trillion. The recent performance of the regional economies indicates that they have successfully come out of the global financial crisis. The economies in the region have both traditional and knowledge-based sectors, having the capacity to absorb increasing pressure of the regional demand in most of the sectors.
(The correspondent is on a sponsored trip by Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority)
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.