Madam Speaker, the registration of small and medium enterprises at my Ministry is governed by the provisions of the SME Act 2017. According to the First Schedule of the Act, SMEs are categorised as microenterprise where the annual turnover does not exceed Rs10 million, small enterprises where the annual turnover exceeds Rs10 million but does not exceed Rs30 million, medium enterprise where the annual turnover exceeds Rs30 million but does not exceed Rs100 million and mid-market enterprise where the turnover exceeds Rs100 million but does not exceed Rs250 million. Madam Speaker, I wish to inform the House that SMEs are not registered by SME Mauritius Ltd, which is a government-owned private company falling under the purview of my Ministry but rather by the SME Registration Unit of my Ministry. I am informed that as at date, there are 23,429 SMEs registered with my Ministry. Regarding part (a) of the question, I wish to inform the House that neither SME Mauritius Ltd nor my Ministry provide any kind of loan to SMEs. In fact, SME can avail loan facilities from the DBM, the MauBank, the Industrial Finance Corporation of Mauritius (IFCM) as well as from commercial banks. As regards my Ministry, SME Mauritius provides grants to SMEs under various schemes namely the Business Transformation Scheme, Technology and Innovation Scheme, Market Readiness Scheme, Greening Support Scheme and Agri-Business Scheme. Madam Speaker, regarding part (b) of the question, I am informed that assessments of obstacles faced by business enterprises have been made by several government institutions as follows – • The SME division of my Ministry continuously carries out assessment of the difficulties faced by the SMEs through regular site visits and consultations with SME; • SME Mauritius also carries out consultation with SMEs to identify their operational challenges with a view to formulating targeted trainings and schemes in order to address these obstacles; • The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and International Trade and the Mauritius Chamber of Commerce, jointly manage the Trade Obstacles Alert Mechanism since 2015. The platform provides a proactive framework to identify and address trade obstacles encountered by the business community in course of import and export operations; • The Mauritius Chamber of Commerce and Industry also conducts regular meetings under specific commissions and committees, for instance, its commerce industry and services and economic commission take stock of issues and obstacles for its members; Madam Speaker, regarding part (c) of the question, I am informed that Mauritius has signed a number of trade agreements with friendly countries namely, the European Union, the UK, China and India, which provide for duty free and quota free access for our locally manufactured products with a view to overcoming of trade barriers. The trade agreements are mainly the Eastern and Southern Africa European Union Economic Partnership Agreement, Eastern and Southern Africa United Kingdom Economic Partnership Agreement, Mauritius China-Trade Agreement, Mauritius-India Comprehensive Corporation and Partnership Agreement which is called CECPA, and Mauritius-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Mauritius is also member of Regional Trade Blocks such as the SADC, the COMESA and African Continental Free Trade Area. However, I wish to inform the House that FTAs signed with friendly countries not only benefit Mauritian entrepreneurs but, in some cases, they tend to be more advantageous to the foreign countries exporting to Mauritius. This has even led to situations like dumping of very cheap low-quality goods from overseas markets. Madam Speaker, regarding measures to support our local enterprises to international, I am informed that a number of export schemes are available and manged by the EDB to boost the competitiveness of export manufacturing enterprises namely the Trade and Marketing Scheme, Freight Rebate Scheme, Export Credit Guarantee Insurance Scheme and Participation in International Fairs SME Refund Scheme. Furthermore, my Ministry through SME Mauritius Ltd, provides support to SMEs under various grant schemes aimed at assisting enterprises in product development, certification, export readiness among others. Thank you.

Thank you, hon. Minister. Yes, Dr. Ms Daureeawo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Could the hon. Minister consider an impact evaluation or assessment to show how public funds have delivered real growth?

Yes, of course this can be done.

Good. Dr. Prayag. CONSTITUENCY NO. 7 – AMITIÉ FOOTBALL GROUND – STATUS