The Cabinet met on September 26, where it took note of the 38th edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI 38) tracking 120 financial centres globally, and under which Mauritius improved its position to 52nd, clinching 6 places from 58th in GFCI 37 (March 2025) and 60th in GFCI 36 (September 2024). The jurisdiction also made significant strides in its score, witnessing an increase of 13 points. On the regional front, the jurisdiction has boosted its standing, ranking 3rd in the Middle East and Africa, where it continues to be recognised among the 15 financial centres most likely to gain in importance over the next 2-3 years.
The Cabinet also gave its assent to the publication of the General Notice providing the date of coming into force of the protocol amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Convention (DTAC) with the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The protocol aims to make the DTAC between Mauritius and Bangladesh compliant with the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting minimum standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development while stepping up investment flows between both nations.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was also agreed upon between the Financial Crimes Commission of the Republic of Mauritius and the Basel Institute on Governance. The agreement aims to: strengthen efforts of the Financial Crimes Commission to identify and recover assets obtained through corruption, abuse of power, financial or economic crime, drug related offences or other forms of criminal activity; facilitate the development of plans and strategies to effectively investigate offences of corruption, abuse of power, financing of drug dealing and financial or economic crime; and facilitate the obtaining of intelligence and evidence from other jurisdictions, for use in support of domestic investigations, prosecutions or confiscation/ forfeiture applications.
Moreover, the signing of an MoU between the National Audit Office of the Republic of Mauritius and the National Audit Office of the Republic of Gambia was also agreed by the Cabinet. It aims to create an avenue for the provision of technical assistance and exchange programmes between both institutions to strengthen professional capacity in the fields such as public sector methodologies, including emerging areas; accrual reporting system of the international public sector accounting standards to the staff of the National Audit Office (Gambia).
Among other decisions, the ICT Ministry of Technology, Communication and Innovation will hold a workshop on Cybersecurity in Mauritius with the assistance of officials hailing from the Maharashtra Cyber Department sharing their knowledge, insights and experience to help enhance the cyber security eco-system, to be attended by representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Mauritius Police Force, the Attorney-General’s Office and Information and Communication Technologies Authority.
It alights with the outcome of the Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation in the high-level delegation headed by the Prime Minister to India where, as emphasised in the Digital Transformation Blueprint 2025-2029 for Mauritius, talks were held with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra; officials of the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team focussing on: support in fighting cyber frauds, scams and other online crimes by using preventive methods and software; establishment of guidelines for proper usage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and creating public awareness on AI as well as further upgrading of the online crime reporting system; implementation of an early warning system for better communication and preparation against natural disasters.
The outcome of the recent participation of the Minister of Tertiary Education, Science and Research in the Global Smart Education Conference 2025 on the theme “Human-AI Collaboration: Reshaping Education for the Future” in China was also noted. The Minister chaired a dedicated AI-panel at the conference while delivering an academic presentation entitled: The Mission and Strategic Transformation of Universities in the Age of AI”. The Minister also visited the Huawei ICT Academy and the Alibaba Cloud Academy and engaged in discussions on equipping university students with industry-relevant ICT and AI skills through micro-credential courses.
