Africa-Press – Mauritius. A newly upgraded Trade Obstacles Alert Mechanism (TOAM) and its complementary mobile application was launched, this morning, at Le Maritim Resort and Spa, in Balaclava, by the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade, Mr Alan Ganoo.
The British High Commissioner to Mauritius, Ms Charlotte Pierre; the President of the MCCI, Mrs Namita Jagarnath Hardowar; the Market Analyst of the ITC, Mr Vianney Lesaffre; and other personalities were also present on the occasion.
This initiative is a joint collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade; the International Trade Centre (ITC); and the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).
TOAM, a web-based platform allows business operators to report trade obstacles such as non-tariff barriers and other constraints which they might face in the course of exports and imports. These obstacles are then channeled to relevant Ministries and Organisations for remedial actions.
The ITC has secured financial assistance from the United Kingdom (UK) Trade Partnership Programme, and in this context, is collaborating with Mauritian stakeholders to upgrade the existing TOAM platform.
The upgraded TOAM platform will be a simplified version which will enable quicker reporting of the obstacles faced by traders as well as help them describe in more details the obstacles they faced.
In his address, Minister Ganoo recalled that the Ministry and other concerned stakeholders have since long been collaborating with the ITC on several projects which includes the elaboration of the World Trade Organisation’s Trade Facilitation implementation plan for Mauritius, the National Export Strategy (NES), the She Trades Outlook, and more recently, the partnership for enhancing export capacity of the African countries to China, also known as the Partnership for Enhancing the Export Capacity of Africa to China (PEECAC).
Speaking of the TOAM, Mr Ganoo highlighted that it was first developed in 2014 by the ITC for implementation in Côte d’Ivoire and has been implemented in 15 countries, including in Mauritius in 2015.
A regional TOAM platform has also been developed by the ITC for the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), and, so far, some 30 trade obstacles have been successfully resolved through the Mauritius TOAM platform, he added.
“The mobile application will make the TOAM more visible to operators and enable them to report trade obstacles directly and seamlessly from their mobile devices,” Mr Ganoo said.
On this score, the Minister thanked the UK Government for its generosity and for funding the ITC under the UK Trade Partnership for the facilitation of this upgrade of the TOAM platform to make it more user-friendly and robust.
The Foreign Affairs Minister further stressed that the momentum in improving the business environment has to be maintained as Mauritius positions itself among the very top performers and is one of the most attractive and uncontested business platforms, especially in Africa.
“This is where the TOAM comes into play as it facilitates the identification and elimination of trade barriers, enhances transparency, improves public and private sector dialogue and improves the business environment in Mauritius,” he stated.
He therefore appealed to all agencies concerned with the implementation of trade related policies to participate effectively in the process for this upgraded TOAM to live up to its expectations.
“To ensure the proper functioning of the online platform, an Inter-Agency Protocol of Cooperation were signed by 21 Agencies in 2015 and we look forward to continue working with these Agencies to ensure the success of the new platform,” Mr Ganoo indicated.
For her part, the British High Commissioner underscored that the UK and Mauritius share a particularly strong trade relationship given that Mauritius is UK’s sixth biggest trade partner in Africa, while UK is Mauritius’ third biggest market export.
“We are excited about the opportunities in front of us with the announcement of our Prime Minister Elizabeth Truss for a new Strategic Trade Partnership when she met with Prime Minister Jugnauth in New York last week,” she pointed out.
The UK, Ms Charlotte Pierre indicated, is committed to work with its Mauritian partners including local government agencies and business support institutions to help create conditions that support businesses in Mauritius and beyond.
“TOAM is set to play an important role in delivering our trade ambitions and enabling industry players to flag the issues that impede their ability to do business efficiently while also ensuring that government agencies can consistently improve their structures and procedures to facilitate trade and business,” the High Commissioner said.
As for Mrs Jagarnath-Hardowar, she highlighted that the TOAM project is a true reflection of the spirit that has always prevailed in all MCCI’s undertakings in terms of public-private partnership sector collaboration.
“The continued public-private partnership is key element for the successful implementation of TOAM as the prompt resolution of obstacles will indeed show our country’s commitment in achieving the wider objectives of global competitiveness,” she pointed out.
The representative of the ITC, Mr Lesaffre, for his part, stressed that as the National Focal Point, the MCCI is responsible for managing the TOAM platform by ensuring the correct transmission of information between public and private sectors whilst ensuring confidentiality.
“The MCCI is also taking the lead in sensitising the business community on the benefits of using the TOAM website and the mobile application for reporting trade barriers,” he said.
On this score, Mr Lesaffre expressed confidence that this joint ITC-Mauritius enhanced collaboration will continue to be beneficial for exporting and importing firms in the country and will contribute to the Government’s objectives to support private sector development and job creation.
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