Integrated Governmental Clearance Centre to Facilitate Trade in Mauritius
In the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Report 2020 ranks Mauritius 13th out of 190 countries and the island is recognised to be a leader in business facilitation across Africa.
During the International Customs Day 2020 celebration, The Prime Minister announced that a Centre for Integrated Governmental Clearance (the “Centre”) will be constructed in order to reduce the cost of doing business, facilitate trade in Mauritius and to further improve the ranking of Mauritius for Ease of Doing Business globally. The main objective of creating this Centre is to bring under one single roof, all the related government agencies concerned with the processing of permits and authorisation as well as the clearance of goods. This Centre will help in promoting a better coordination and a better unity between the related governmental agencies which will result in a more effective delivery of services, proper usage of resources, better connectivity, a wider sharing of information and intelligence, amongst others.
The Centre is expected to be completed by June 2021. It will have a modern architectural design and equipped with all the necessary facilities and amenities, while being eco-friendly.
The Director-General of the Mauritius Revenue Authorities (the “MRA”) , Mr Sudhamo Lal – mentioned that the creation of this Centre will help all stakeholders to conduct their transactions in one single building and this has been recommended by the World Customs Organisation to promote the innovative concept of coordinated border Management. He added that the MRA has undertaken to promote sustainability, resounding success of the institution for spearheading reforms and modernising itself for better service delivery.