The Prime Minister, Dr Navin Ramgoolam, G.C.S.K., expressed his confidence that as a Nation Mauritius can overcome the global challenges and lead the way into a new era of growth, prosperity and social equity for all the people. No frontier is beyond our reach if we are united and determined, he said.
Addressing the National Assembly on June 23 during the 2008/2009 budget debates, the Prime Minister pointed out that the budget is a critical building block in our attempt to construct a modern and wealthy Nation. He recalled that one of the key principles of the economic policies of the Government is to ensure that the benefits of economic growth are felt by all the citizens.
"... we must ensure that we dedicate the appropriate resources needed to help the poor in removing the barriers to their life chances", he said.
On this score, the Prime Minister said that the 2008/2009 budget demonstrates that the Government is animated with a relentless drive to combat poverty in all its forms. He added that Government is tackling the issue of poverty on several fronts at the same time, focusing on education, housing and gender.
According to Dr Ramgoolam, the budget speaks volumes about Government's commitment to combat poverty in order to ensure that no citizen in Mauritius is deprived of his or her life chances for a citizenship with dignity.
The Prime Minister further recalled that the vibrant economic diplomacy has been one of the key ingredients of the economic success of Mauritius after independence. Dr Ramgoolam said that the economic diplomacy missions he has personally led have succeeded in making the voice of ‘our remote, small country' heard amongst a host of influential global economic players.
He cited, amongst others, the increase of funds allocated to ACP countries by the EU in the wake of the sugar reforms; return of Agence Francaise de Developpement to Mauritius, special relationships with India and China, the Tianli Development project involving a massive investment of Rs 20 billion.
With regard to the problem of food security, the Prime Minister said that the new paradigm is that Mauritius needs to show resilience and be innovative. He called for our sense of unity and patriotism quoting Marshall Mc Luhan who said: "There are no passengers on our spaceship. We are all crew".
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