Mauritius

Political relations

As a neighbouring country owing to the proximity of Réunion, France maintains friendly and close relations with Mauritius. A bilateral co-management agreement relating to Tromelin Island and its surrounding maritime areas was signed in June 2010. The ratification process is not yet complete in France. Geographically neighbours, the “sister islands” of Réunion and Mauritius maintain a very strong relationship, particularly in terms of cooperation. A branch of the region of Réunion has been established in Ébène.

Economic relations

France is a major economic actor in Mauritius as it is:

• its third-largest trading partner, with a total volume of €669.6 million in 2018 (with a surplus for France of €140.3 million);
• its leading customer (behind the United Kingdom), receiving 14% of Mauritius’ exports in 2018;
• its fourth-largest supplier (after India, China and South Africa), providing 8.2% of Mauritian imports in 2018;
• its leading foreign investor (with almost 200 French businesses);
• its leading supplier of tourists (over 420,000 French people out of 1.35 million tourists) in 2017, accounting for 31.3% of tourist arrivals.

France is Mauritius’ leading bilateral partner for official development assistance. The Agence Française de Développement (AFD, French Development Agency) is Mauritius’ second-largest donor after the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the second-largest donor to loan directly to public companies, behind China. Since the reopening of its branch in 2006, the AFD has made €517 million in net commitments in Mauritius.

Trade between Réunion and Mauritius (€36 million in 2017) gives a strong trade surplus to Mauritius. In 2017, Réunion’s exports to Mauritius (€7 million) were considerably lower than its imports from Mauritius (€29 million).