Mauritius Vice Prime Minister leads business delegation to Ghana

The Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development of Mauritius, Mr Xavier-Luc Duval, is leading a 30-member business delegation on a three-day visit to the country.

It is a reciprocal visit to President John Mahama’s to Mauritius in December, last year. 

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Haruna Iddrisu, who welcomed the delegation at the airport, said the visit was to continue the investment relations being forged between the two countries. 

He said Mauritius was noted for sugar production. 

Sugar imports to Ghana

Given that Ghana currently imports about US$173 million worth of sugar annually, the minister said it was the desire of President Mahama that Ghana produced sugar to meet her huge consumption levels. 

“The president is particularly encouraged by this visit because the presence of the delegation will facilitate the move to establish fruitful relationship with Mauritius to make Ghana a major producer and exporter of sugar,” he said. 

He added that the government would support investors from Mauritius with land acquisition and infrastructure at Savelugu and Daboya in the Northern Region should they conclude their discussions on investments. 

Earlier this year, Mr Iddrisu led some Mauritius investors to some sites in the Northern Region to assess areas that would be suitable for them to establish a sugar plantation and factory as promised by President Mahama in his state of the nation address.  

Omnicane Sugar Factory of Mauritius 

Omnicane will set up a $250 million sugar cane factory in Ghana by the end of this year. The factory will have capacity to produce 100,000 tonnes of refined sugar annually. It will also provide jobs for some 2000 people.    

The Mauritius Vice Prime Minister said the visit was to introduce his country’s business people to their Ghanaian counterparts so as to encourage partnerships.

He said his country was successful not only in sugar production but other areas of agricultural outputs, including livestock production as well as areas such as tourism and banking.