1. Cabinet has approved the grant of a Regional Headquarters Certificate under the Development Incentives (Regional Headquarters Scheme) Regulations 2000 to William E. Connor (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., to provide services to existing subsidiaries based in Madagascar, South Africa and new subsidiaries in Sub-Saharan countries. The Company presently services some 80 US clients and over 1500 textile manufacturing companies mainly in the Asian countries.
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2.Cabinet has approved the grant of 3 Export Enterprise Certificates and 3 Pioneer Status Enterprise Certificates under the Industrial Expansion Act 1993. The implementation of the six projects would include a spinning plant for the production of cotton yard involving an investment of Rs 150 million and the setting up of a fish farm at the cost of Rs 130 million. These projects would also create some 175 job opportunities.
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3. Cabinet has agreed to the introduction into the National Assembly of the Statistics Bill to provide for the systematic and harmonised production of statistics to respond more fully to user needs while strengthening measures to safeguard confidentiality and security of individual information.
The bill also makes provision for the setting up of a Statistics Advisory Council.
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4. Cabinet has agreed to a Household Budget Survey being conducted by the Central Statistical Office from July 2001 to June 2002. The primary objective of the Survey is to study the consumption pattern of the population with a view to updating the basket of goods and services used to compute the Consumer Price Index.
A sample of some 6000 households will be selected for the Survey. The previous Household Budget was carried out in 1996/97.
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5. Cabinet has taken note of the status of the St. Martin Sewage treatment plant project and considering its importance in the overall development of the Plaine Wilhems sewerage system, has decided that the project should be implemented as scheduled.
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6. Cabinet has taken note that the SADC will carry out a study on aquaculture policy in the region. The aim of the study is to prepare a framework to promote and regulate aquaculture development in the SADC region. The study will be carried out with technical assistance from the Danish Government. An officer of the Albion Fisheries Research Centre will participate in the study.
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7. Cabinet has taken note of the findings of a study carried out by Coopers and Lybrand and funded by World Health Organisation and UNICEF on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Mauritius and Rodrigues and of the action plan prepared by the Ministry of Women's Rights, Child Development & Family Welfare. Cabinet has also decided that the report be released.
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8. In line with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Cabinet has agreed to the Ministry of Women Rights, Child Development & Family Welfare setting up a Task Force to be chaired by Mrs. Pramila Patten, Barrister at Law, to review existing legislation which may still be discriminatory towards women, to review the procedures for the implementation of the Protection from Domestic Violence Act, and to consider the introduction of new laws including the introduction of a Sex Discrimination Act which would consolidate gender equality.
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9. Cabinet has agreed to a request made by a Dutch team led by Dr. Pieter M. Floore of the University of Amsterdam to continue archeological research works on the remains of the Dutch Fort at the historic site of Vieux Grand Port. Following similar excavation works undertaken in 1997 and 1999, a museum has been erected on the site where the objects discovered have been displayed.
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10. Cabinet has taken note of the reconstitution of the MEDIA Board under the chairmanship of Mr. Marday Venketasamy, presently Managing Director of Filao Ltée.
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11. Cabinet has taken note of the recommendations made in the Burrenchobay Reports on reforms in the Civil Service and progress achieved by the Steering Committee set up to assist in the implementation of the recommendations.
In this connection, the Commonwealth Fund for Technical Co-operation (CFTC) of the Commonwealth Secretariat, will delegate a Malaysian expert, Mr. M. Mahalingam, who has extensive experience in civil service reforms to assist the Government.
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12. Cabinet has taken note of the activities to be organised to mark the celebrations of SADC Creators and Performer’s Day on 14 October 2000. The objective of the celebration is to highlight the problems related to piracy, copyrights and neighbouring rights.
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13. Cabinet has taken note of activities being organised by the Postal Services on the occasion of World Post Day which is celebrated each year on 9 October by Postal Administrations worldwide to commemorate the inception of the Universal Postal Union.
The activities amongst others will include an issue of postage stamps, a stamp exhibition, display of banners at main Post Offices and sports activities for Postal Staff and their families.
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14. Cabinet has taken note that the Post Office Regulations 1977 will be amended to extend exemption from payment of postage to cover literature for the blind conveyed through the medium of sound recordings, in line with the provision of the Universal Postal Union Convention.
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15. Cabinet has been apprised of the visit of the Minister of Culture, Advanced Education and Research of Luxembourg from 28 to 31 October 2000.
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16. Cabinet has been apprised of the publication of the Family Planning and Demographic year book 1999 for Mauritius and Rodrigues which provides data inter alia in relation to birth rate, infant mortality rate, general fertility rate, and crude death rate, as well as information on use of family planning methods.
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