Décisions du Conseil des Ministres du 6 décembre 2019

les membres du Cabinet ont pris note que Trade Promotion and Marketing Scheme sera étendue aix exportations vers les USA, de l’implémentation du New Electronic Inventory Management System dans le ministère de la Santé, de l cpmpétition de Street Dance Battle à Mahebourg, entre autres.

1. Cabinet has taken note that the Trade Promotion and Marketing Scheme would be extended to exports to the United States of America (USA) as from January 2020. The Scheme provides a 40% refund on air freight cost for exports to USA. The objective is to enable local operators to increase their exports to USA.

2. Cabinet has taken note that the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (Republic of Kenya) Regulations 2019 would be promulgated shortly. The promulgation of the Regulations forms part of the internal procedure to ratify the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) with Kenya. The main benefits of the DTAA are as follows:

(a) it will ensure that there is no double taxation of the same income;

(b) it will provide greater certainty to businessmen as regards to the taxation of their income derived from cross-border transactions and investments between Mauritius and Kenya; and

(c) investors will have an alternative mechanism, namely the “Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP)”, to resolve tax disputes that may arise on the DTAA.

3. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on co-ooperation in the fields of financial reporting and auditing between the Public Accountants’ and Auditors’ Board of Namibia and the Financial Reporting Council of Mauritius. The main objective of the Memorandum of Understanding is to lay the conditions for co-ooperation between the two regulatory bodies with a view to facilitating the discharging of their common functions and maximising the effectiveness of their objectives and responsibilities in relation to the credibility of financial reporting, quality auditing and corporate governance in their respective jurisdiction.

4. Cabinet has taken note that the following Regulations would be made under the Statutory Bodies Pension Funds Act:

(a) Statutory Bodies Pension Funds (Amendment No.2) Regulations 2019;

(b) Statutory Bodies Pension Funds (Amendment of Schedule) (No.3) Regulations 2019; and

The Statutory Bodies Pension Funds (Amendment No. 2) Regulations 2019 are being made to, inter alia,:

(a) give effect as from 1 January 2016 to the recommendations of the 2016 Pay Research Bureau Report in respect of:

(i) payment of death benefits to the legal personal representative of an officer, who has retired on or after attaining the age of 45, at the time of his death;

(ii) increase in the value of rent allowance;

(iii) increase in the pensionable emoluments of officers in the position of Accounting Head/Chief Executive;

(iv) increase in the top salary of the salary scale of officers eligible to one additional hypothetical increment for the computation of their pension benefits; and

(b) give effect as from 25 July 2019 to the modalities of measures announced at section 50(f) in the Annex to the Budget Speech 2019-2020.

The First Schedule to the Statutory Bodies Pension Funds Act is being amended for the listing of the Special Education Needs Authority and the Creole-Speaking Union, for the establishment of a pension fund with SICOM for their employees.

5. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of the Agent Agreement between the Government of Mauritius and Crown Agents Japan Limited regarding the implementation of Japanese Grant Aid for the Economic and Social Development Programme 2019. The Government of Japan has agreed to provide a grant of 300,000,000 JPY equivalent to 100 Million Mauritian Rupees for the acquisition of six High Speed boats for the Mauritius Police Force in the context of maritime security. Crown Agents Japan Limited has been approached by the Japanese Authorities as the Agent for procurement purposes.

6. Cabinet has taken note of the status of implementation of the New Electronic Inventory Management System at the Ministry of Health and Wellness. The New Electronic Inventory Management System has been developed for real-time stock control of drugs and consumables. These features include, inter alia, data entry using barcode scanners for fast processing of delivery notes, Inter-Department Transfer that would allow one hospital to view the stock level of another hospital and make arrangements for sharing of available items in case of shortage at one particular hospital.

7. Cabinet has taken note that the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Recreation would organise a Street Dance Battle for young persons aged 12 to 35 years in December 2019 at regional and national levels in three categories, namely Breakdance, Hip Hop All Style and Afro Dance. The national competition would be held on 28 December 2019 at Mahebourg Waterfront.

8. Cabinet has taken note of:

(a) the appointment of Mr Mootoosamy Naidoo as Chairperson of the Central Electricity Board; and

(b) the reconstitution of the Board of Trustees of “La Clinique Mauricienne” for the year 2020.