1.Cabinet has taken cognizance of the positive outcome of the official visit of the Prime Minister to France from 11 to 14 February 2004. The Prime Minister has inter alia had a work session at l'Elysée with President Jacques Chirac and a meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Pierre Raffarin at Matignon as well as meetings and discussions with Ministers responsible for Overseas France, for Cooperation and Francophonie and for International Trade and the Mouvement des Entreprises de France. Cabinet has also taken note of air services talks held in Paris on 28 and 29 January 2004. The issues discussed related to the European Community Clauses, the designation of airlines on the Paris/Mauritius route, capacity and frequency of flights and tariffs. A meeting has been scheduled in Mauritius for the end of March 2004 for further discussions.
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2. Cabinet has taken note of the official visit of the Director-General of UNESCO from 17 to 19 February 2004 to launch the International Year of the Commemoration of the Struggle against Slavery and its abolition for the Indian Ocean and the SADC Sub region.
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3. Cabinet has taken cognizance of a preliminary paper on the use of Kreol as a medium of instruction in the pre-primary, primary and pre-vocational sectors. The Minister of Education and Scientific Research will, in the light of discussions, fine-tune the document and circulate a policy paper which will be made public.
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4.Cabinet has taken note of activities to be organised in the context of the "International Women's Day 2004", on the theme "Women, Science and Technology". The official function will be held at the Plaza Theatre from 1000 hours to 1100 hours in the presence of the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister.
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5.Cabinet has taken note that some Councillors of small villages have made representations to the effect that their villages might be under represented or not represented in Municipal Councils, in areas where the number of villages exceeded the number of seats, and has set up a Ministerial Committee under the chairmanship of the Minister of Housing and Lands and Minister of Small and Medium Enterprises, Handicraft & the Informal Sector to examine these representations and to make recommendations to address the issue.
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6. Cabinet has taken note that with a view to enhancing the safe use of electricity, regulations will be introduced under the Electricity Act to provide for all new buildings to be fitted with Residual Current Devices at the mains. A moratorium of one year will be given in respect of existing buildings.
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7. Cabinet has taken cognizance that the Government of Indonesia will be requested to review its decision to terminate the Double Taxation Agreement between the two countries. In this connection, a high level delegation from Mauritius will proceed to Indonesia to provide full and detailed explanation of the supervision and practice of financial services business in Mauritius and to make proposals for the improvement of the functioning of the Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty. On the other hand, Cabinet has also taken note of the positive outcome of the negotiations for the conclusion of a Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement and on Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement between Mauritius and Barbados which took place from 26 to 30 January 2004 in Barbados.
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8.Cabinet has agreed to the setting-up of a Committee of Officials to look into the feasibility and implications of integrating the Mauritius Freeport Authority within the Board of Investment.
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9. Cabinet has agreed -
(a) to the Proclamation of Part VII of the Local Government Act relating to tender procedures;
(b) that all registered contractors be eligible to bid for the forthcoming three-year contracts for scavenging services by Local Authorities and an exercise to categorise contractors for scavenging services be undertaken after the three-year period.
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10. Cabinet has taken note that two Committees have been set up under the chairmanship of the Minister of Training, Skills Development, Productivity and External Communications to look into the training needs for the Textile and the Tourism Sectors respectively.
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11. Cabinet has taken note that the 6th Edition of the "Oscar de la Jeunesse" Award will be held in August 2004. The objective of the "Oscar" is to reward outstanding performance of young people in the social, economic, cultural and artistic fields and to promote high youth achievers as role models to the youth of the country.
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12. Cabinet has reviewed the situation regarding bank fishing and took note that the Prime Minister will chair a meeting on 26 February 2004 with bank fishing operators and all stakeholders.
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13. Cabinet has agreed to Mauritius hosting a Regional Workshop on Negotiations on Trade in Services from 26 to 28 May 2004.
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14. Cabinet has agreed to the ratification of the Employment Service Convention No. 88 of the International Labour Conference.
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15. Cabinet has agreed to regulations being made to amend the schedule to the Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare Act with a view to allowing the registration of holders of the Associateship of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians, London as Safety and Health Officers.
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16. Cabinet has agreed to the introduction in the National Assembly of the Labour (Amendment) Bill with a view to providing for special offences and penalties in relation to workers who are assaulted, verbally abused, threatened or subjected to other offensive behaviour in the course of their work.
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17. Cabinet has agreed that a Scholarships Committee be set up by the Commission for Education and Training in Rodrigues for the selection of candidates for scholarships offered to Rodriguan candidates.
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18. Cabinet has agreed that the Witnesses' Attendance Allowance Act be amended to provide for an increase in the attendance fees payable to witnesses.
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19. Cabinet has agreed to the introduction of a passenger service charge on departing passengers at Plaine Corail Airport as follows:
(i) Rs 500 per Passenger embarking on international flights; and
(ii) Rs 150 per Passenger embarking on domestic flights.
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20. Cabinet has taken note of the outcome of the mission of the Minister of Public Utilities in Pune, India from 11 to 12 February 2004 where he attended the India - Africa Summit on Water Partnership.
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21. Cabinet has taken note that Mauritius will host :
(i) the SADC Standardization Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology Meeting from 18 to 23 April 2004;
(ii) the Special Telecommunication Regulators Association of Southern Africa (TRASA) Meeting from 26 to 27 February 2004; and
(iii) the 7th TRASA Annual General Meeting in September 2004.
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