THE WORLD INVESTMENT REPORT 2010

Official Launching Ceremony by MD

22 July 2010, BOI Conference Room

Introductory Remarks

1. It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to the official launching of the
World Investment Report 2010. It is indeed an exceptional event that we are
hosting today for this important report is being launched simultaneously across
the world. It has been embargoed for circulation till 17 hours GMT today and it is
our privilege and honor to partner with UNCTAD to officially launch this report
within our premises. In fact, the Board of Investment has partnered with
UNCTAD to launch this report annually since 2004.

2. Investment is a key indicator of economic growth all throughout the world.

This report by UNCTAD provides a wealth of information on the global state of
investments. It gives the pulse of economic recovery in the world and in markets
that matter to Mauritius.

3. This year’s theme is about investing in a low carbon economy. I will spend the
next 15 to 20 minutes providing you with some of the key highlights and salient
features of the report, the emergence of developing and transition economies as
sources of FDI flow. More importantly perhaps I will elaborate on the lessons
and implications that we should draw from this report in realigning our efforts
to capture new sources of FDI.

4. My good friend Raj, from the Joint Economic Council, will then give you the key
pointers on the green energy investments and the positioning of Mauritius in
this investment space. The World Investment report provides an indication of
the business opportunities in the low carbon economy as well as initiatives on
which Investment Promotion Agencies such as the BOI and the private sector can
collaborate.

Global Trends

5. The World Investment report shows a promising investment outlook in the face
of fragile global financial and economic recovery. Following downturns in 2008

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 and 2009, global flows are expected to recover slightly this year, with stronger
recovery in the next two years.

6. From the 2007 peak of $2.1 trillion, global FDI flows fell by 16% in 2008 and
again by 37% in 2009 to $1.14 trillion. Global inflows are expected to pick up to
over $1.2 trillion in 2010 and rise to $1.3-1.5 trillion by 2011 with a stronger
recovery ahead, projected to $ 2 trillion by 2012.

7. The relative weight of developing and transition economies as sources of global

FDI has increased and will keep increasing in 2010 and ahead. China, India and
the Russian Federation will increasingly figure among the top FDI sources (BRICs
contributed to $147 billion of outward FDI in 2008).In fact half of global FDI
inflows now go to developing and transition economies. Their resilience during
the 2009 FDI downturn point to the investment appetite in these regions namely
China, Hong Kong and Russia and India.

8. This has important implications in the way we focus our resources at the level of
BOI in attracting investment.

9. In the African continent, FDI flows fell by 19% in 2009 to $59 billion mainly due
to a contraction in demand and falling commodities prices. Southern Africa
remained the largest recipient of the region. The contraction of African FDI was
lower in investments for the services sector, which is good for Mauritius,
positioned as the services gateway to Africa.

10. In 2010, the report notes that continued interest from the Asian economies and
rising commodities prices should help increase FDI into Africa. Intra-regional FDI
within Africa is also increasing with South Africa holding 22% of its outward
stocks in other African nations. Mauritius can play an important role for
structuring these investments.

11. The report also highlights the sectors that have suffered the least in attracting
FDI. Agribusiness or pharmaceuticals that are non-cyclical or fast-growing have
shown resilience and are expected to grow in 2010.

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 Changes in the International Investment Regime

12. The report also addresses some of the policy changes adopted by governments
to regulate FDI flows. Globally, countries continue to liberalise and promote
foreign investments. There has however been an increase in new policy
measures regulating foreign investments. For example, some countries, including
Algeria, Germany, Australia and India have introduced new limitations on foreign
participation in some industries, or have tightened the approval and screening
procedures for inward investments. In this light, Mauritius remains a place
where it is easy to do business.

Investments in Low-Carbon projects

13. Transnational corporations are increasingly involved in the low-carbon economy.

Raj will cover some aspects of this trend.

Mauritius and Foreign Investments in light of the World Investment Report

14. The World Investment Report reports inflows of $257 million in Mauritius for
2009. This represents 11.7% of the gross domestic fixed capital formation in
Mauritius, higher than the developing economies average of 9.3% but
significantly lower than the African average of 18.7%.

In clear terms, it means that local entrepreneurs are investing more than their
African peers do but less than those in other developing nations.

15. The World Investment Report projects a slow global recovery to get back to the
$2 trillion mark by 2010. In Mauritius, based on our local project pipeline, we
aim to get back to the Rs. 10 billion mark by the end of the year despite the
fragile global environment.

16. In light of the conclusions and findings of the World Investment report as well as
the main trends in FDI flow for 2009 and indicators of growth sectors that we are
seeing in 2010, we are reviewing some of our strategies and priorities to remain
on track of achieving our goal of Rs 10 bn flow.
a. While maintaining continued focus on traditional markets in Europe, we
will intensify our actions in India, emerging markets like Russia and Asia
including countries like Vietnam, Indonesia,

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 b. Special attention on industry sectors including manufacturing, agro
processing, light engineering,

c. We will focus attention on new emerging sectors like the knowledge

industry, health care and life sciences while consolidating already
established sectors like the ICT and Financial Services.

d. We will pursue active consultations to tackle constraints that impede

growth and investment. We will engage forcefully with all relevant
stakeholders to address the human resources capacity shortage,
continue to improve the business climate including the cost of doing
business.

e. We will promote and implement projects in the clean energy and

renewable sources including the implementation of the Land Based
Oceanic Industry.

17. I now invite Mr. Raj Makoond, Director of JEC and also Board Member of the BOI
to address you.

R.M.

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