Dr Anup Wadhawan, Commerce Secretary, Government of India, and Ambassador Mr. Haymandoyal Dillum, Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Government of Mauritius signed the India-Mauritius Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement (CECPA)  in Port Louis yesterday, in the august presence of Prime Minister of Mauritius Mr Pravind Jugnauth, and External Affairs Minister, Govt of India, Mr S. Jaishankar.

CECPA  is the first trade Agreement signed by India with a country in Africa. The Agreement is a limited agreement, which will cover Trade in Goods, Rules of Origin, Trade in Services, Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures, Dispute Settlement, Movement of Natural Persons, Telecom, Financial services, Customs Procedures and Cooperation in other Areas

Impact/benefits: CECPA provides for an institutional mechanism to encourage and improve trade between the two countries. The CECPA between India and Mauritius covers 310 export items for India, including food stuff and beverages (80 lines), agricultural products (25 lines), textile and textile articles (27 lines), base metals and articles thereof (32 lines), electricals and electronic item (13 lines), plastics and chemicals (20 lines), wood and articles thereof (15 lines), and others. Mauritius will benefit from preferential market access into India for its 615 products, including frozen fish, speciality sugar, biscuits, fresh fruits, juices, mineral water, beer, alcoholic drinks, soaps, bags, medical and surgical equipment, and apparel.

As regards trade in services, Indian service providers will have access to around 115 sub-sectors from the 11 broad service sectors, such as professional services, computer related services, research & development, other business services, telecommunication, construction, distribution, education, environmental, financial, tourism & travel related, recreational, yoga, audio-visual services, and transport services.

India has offered around 95 sub-sectors from the 11 broad services sectors, including professional services, R&D, other business services, telecommunication, financial, distribution, higher education, environmental, health, tourism and travel related services, recreational services and transport services.

Both sides have also agreed to negotiate an Automatic Trigger Safeguard Mechanism (ATSM) for a limited number of highly sensitive products within two years of the Signing of the Agreement.

Timelines: The Agreement will come into force at an early date.

The India-Mauritius CECPA will further cement the already deep and special relations between the two countries.

Preferential market access expanded: CECPA establishes liberalised trade in goods and services with procedural and safeguard mechanisms. The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation and Partnership Agreement establishes a bilateral framework to liberalise trade in goods and services, prescribing tariff concessions, rules of origin, customs procedures, and cooperation on technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. It provides preferential market access lists for covered products, commitments on services across identified sub sectors including movement of natural persons, and incorporates a dispute settlement framework. The Parties will negotiate an Automatic Trigger Safeguard Mechanism for a limited set of sensitive products within a specified post signature period.