Over the last 45 years, Mauritius has earned a good name as a quality and reliable apparel manufacturer.
It is known to be a major exporter to leading world buyers among Arcadia group (UK), Tommy Hilfiger, USA and Orchestra, France, among others.
The South African statistics pertaining to the export of apparel have increased drastically from USD 102 million to USD 200 million in 2015.
Further, South Africa is positioned as one of the top four export market of apparel together with UK,USA, and France.
Addressing businesses at the Durban Chamber conference center recently, Sipho Kaunda, Chairman of the Economic Development Committee, eThekwini Municipality stated:
“Relations between South Africa and Mauritius were formalized in 1992 with the establishing of representative offices in both countries. Full diplomatic relations were established in 1994,” he said.
Kaunda said upon South Africa’s return to the Commonwealth, relations have been conducted at the level of High Commission.
“It is important that we take advantage of the existing relations for the economic benefit of our local economies in line with our aims to achieve inclusive economic growth.”
“We believe that opportunities that exist especially in textile, clothing industry can assist these two countries. Durban has experience with this industry with many factories around the outskirts of the city that are in this industry.”
The head of the Mauritian delegation, Geerish Bucktowonsing, Divisional Manager of Enterprise Mauritius, explained that Mauritius has built its reputation on the basis of technological innovation to shorten lead time, assured levels of quality, reliability, on-time delivery and compliance to international norms and standards.
The ambitions of Mauritius are not to compete internationally on price alone or beat competition with the cheapest possible offer but to stand as a reliable supplier that can meet sourcing demands in a responsible and a flexible manner.
Further, Enterprise Mauritius is putting maximum efforts to increase intra-trade among SADC countries – Mauritius and South Africa as Rainbow Nations can pave way to consolidate exchange of goods and services and bring people closer to each other.
Enterprise Mauritius is engaged to consolidate trade with existing buyers and to diversify to new customers in Durban.
The latter is less than four hours from Mauritius and easily connected from Port Louis by sea. Hence, Mauritian Entrepreneurs look to connect with stakeholders in Durban and build strong trade and business partnerships.
