Richard Spring MP
Member of Parliament for West Suffolk

Yesterday the All Party Mauritius Group was founded. This is good timing as a group of Mauritian Parliamentarians is coming to Britain in the autumn under the auspices of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. 

Whilst the island has been an exceptional economic success, with particularly strong business links to China and India, it has been rather detached from events on the continent of Africa.

Recently the Prime Minister hosted a Southern African Development Community (SADC) meeting on combating poverty. Of course, all the leaders in Sub-Saharan Africa are highly concerned about Zimbabwe, and its impact on the reputation of Africa, but react very differently.

Mauritius has so much to offer Africa, sharing its very considerable success story, and helping to act as a conduit for aid and investment in less developed countries. Whilst we have strong historic ties, which continue in the Commonwealth, they really should be better.

The new All Party Group is not exactly headline grabbing stuff but we are all now enormously aware of the problems in Africa, and the continuing involvement of Mauritius in trying to resolve these huge challenges will be very well received. I hope that the All Party Group will play some part in this.

Last week I was in Mauritius, happily after its cyclone season which has been particularly bad this year.

Some Mauritians complain that nobody pays any attention to them. This is probably true, because the island – known for high end tourism – is so successful. It is prosperous, and has particularly excellent business and investment links with China and India. Community relationships are by and large good.

This week the Mauritian Prime Minister has hosted a South African Development Community conference on poverty. Nevertheless, despite being members of SADC and the African Union, they are quite detached from events in Africa. Yet between Africa and Mauritius lies a huge, potentially rich, ecologically unique, but underdeveloped island, namely Madagascar. Mauritius has an independent judiciary, low taxation, property rights protection and transparent investment codes. Apart from these, Madagascar needs a radically improved infrastructure, and considerable investment – the potential is huge. Mauritius could definitely assist. It could act as a link to Europe and Asia. Given Mauritius’ food security concerns, a closer relationship could be mutually advantageous.

Now nowhere is without problems. The island’s textile industry faces intense competition, and sugar is destined to decline in importance. Also it would like to reclaim the Chagos Islands, including Diego Garcia, the site of a huge and strategically important US airbase. And of course, given the island’s high propensity to import food, cost increases for Mauritians for food and fuel are being keenly felt.

However the island has been extremely well led and has made all the right strategic decisions. The leadership is often Anglophile, and of course they belong to the Commonwealth.

Curiously enough, there is no All Party Parliamentary grouping for this remarkable little place, so I intend doing something about it. There is always a risk that a country gets noticed only when it is a problem, rather than a success, and Mauritius is indisputably a real post-independence success story.