China-Mauritius free-trade deal creates model for Beijing’s trade with Africa, observers say
- Agreement opens up a market of 1.4 billion consumers to the tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean
- Deal will ‘vitalise cooperation between our two countries and strengthen China-Africa economic ties’, head of African affairs at Chinese foreign ministry says
The China-Mauritius free-trade agreement – Beijing’s first ever with an African country – took effect on Friday, opening up a market of 1.4 billion Chinese consumers to the tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean.
As a result of the deal, within seven years, 96 per cent of the more than 8,500 products Mauritius sells to China will be duty-free, according to the island’s foreign affairs ministry.
Duties on 88 per cent of the tariff lines would be eliminated with immediate effect, with the rest following over a five- to seven-year period, it said.
The export items include rum, frozen fish, noodles and pasta, wafers and biscuits, fresh fruit, juices, mineral water, linen, clothing, watches and leather goods.
Besides the free-trade agreement, China agreed to grant Mauritius a tariff rate quota of 50,000 tonnes of sugar, which will be implemented over a period of eight years.
