Mauritian Information Communication Technology Minister Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum said Wednesday that the ICT sector had experienced a rapid and sustained growth in Mauritius, where an increasing number of foreign companies are setting up their bases.
In addition, 600 companies conducting ICT and ICT-related activities such as software development, call centre operations, business process outsourcing, IT-enabled services, web-enabled services, training, hardware assembly and sales, networking, consultancy, multimedia development, disaster recovery and other support services are already in the Island nation.
The Minister spoke at Pointe-aux-Piments, northern Mauritius, at the opening of ICT-Africa 2014 Conference that is a strategic collaboration between the International Information Management Corporation Limited (IIMC) from Ireland and 18 African countries.
The countries are Mauritius, South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland, Malawi, Angola, Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia and Egypt.
Chedumbrum said the conference would focus on strategic key topics that allow African countries to benefit from regional expertise.
”The path to progress for ICT in Africa is through regional cooperation and partnerships,” he observed.
Regarding Mauritius, the Minister said if the island wants to consolidate its position as the ICT leader in the region and make ICT the main pillar of its economy, with a double digit contribution in its GDP, it needs to see its flaws, learn and improve.
”This can only be achieved if we invest into research and development,” he emphasised.
Over 400 delegates from the public, private, education and research sector organisations from 42 countries are gathered in Mauritius for the three-day meeting.
