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Seychelles can be an important partner for India and China, the country’s Minister for Finance, Trade and Investment Pierre Laporte said here on Tuesday.
“We consider ourselves as potential gateways to Africa because of our position in the Eastern African bloc. We could provide opportunities through our geographical location and through the free trade zones to Indian companies to invest in Seychelles,” the Minister said.
He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Indian Ocean Global Forum – Enhancing partnership for trade, infrastructure and resources development’, organised by the Ministries of External Affairs and Commerce and Confederation of Indian Industry.
Laporte said India and Seychelles had recently signed a bilateral investment promotion agreement.
Marc Hein, Chairman, Financial Services Commission, Mauritius, said while a lot had been said about inbound investment from Mauritius into India, in future India should look at using Mauritius as a platform to invest in Africa.
“There are over 900 funds based in Mauritius. A lot of them are servicing India but more and more of them are geared towards Africa,” he said.
The fact that a number of African countries are growing at 6-8 per cent annually is the reason why people should invest there, he said.
“(These are) unusual figures, which were only heard of from Asian tigers. Now such things are happening in Africa,” Hein added.
ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in
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