Mauritius has signed various international trade agreements that provide preferential access to key markets. The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Free Trade Area (FTA) was established in October 2000 with nine African member states initially. There are now 16 member states trading on a duty-free and quota-free basis, consisting of the following nations: Burundi, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Sudan, Rwanda, the Seychelles, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Southern African Development Community (SADC) FTA exists since August 2008 and now comprises of the following 15 member states: Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, the Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The SADC Trade Protocol aims at reducing customs duties and other barriers to trade on imported products among SADC member states.
Mauritius also benefits from the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which builds on the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) scheme and provides duty-free and quota-free access to the United States for approximately 7,000 products.
The Indian Ocean Commission is an inter-governmental organisation that aims to strengthen diplomatic, economic, and commercial ties between the Indian Ocean islands, which currently include the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion, and the Seychelles. However, at present, only Mauritius and Madagascar are trading with each other’s customs.
The Interim Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was established in August 2009 between the European Union (EU) and Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles, and Zimbabwe. These countries benefit from duty-free and quota-free access to the EU on goods, except for sugar and rice, which have a longer transitional period. Mauritius also entered into a Free Trade agreement with Turkey in 2013, which is partly based on the Interim Economic Partnership Agreement signed with the EU.
Mauritius has also had a Preferential Trade Agreement with Pakistan since 2007, which aims to strengthen the economic and commercial relationship between the two countries. Tariff concessions have been made on a range of products of export interest to both countries.
