Yearbook 2000
Mauritius. In August, President Cassam Uteem abruptly dissolved the parliament following a series of corruption scandals involving government members. The turnout was 80%. Anerood Jugnauth was named Prime Minister, a post he also held in 1982-95, in the leadership of a coalition between his own MSM (Mouvement Socialiste Mauritius) and Paul Bérenger’s MMM (Mouvement Militant Mauritius). The two party leaders concluded a deal that Jugnauth would be the country’s prime minister for three years, after which Bérenger would take over the post.
In early November, Mauritania became one of the nine countries that joined forces in the COMESA (Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa) free trade cooperation. In 2001, another six countries were expected to join, and consultations were ongoing with even more countries.
- ABBREVIATIONFINDER: Offers three letter and two letter abbreviations for the country of Mauritius. Also covers country profile such as geography, society and economy.
In January 2001, China declared that it would build a textile factory in Mauritius to produce 18,000 tonnes of cotton per year. The purpose was to take advantage of the lower tariffs on textile imports from Africa to the EU, which is a consequence of the EU-African cooperation agreement on growth and development.
In February 2001, President Arianga Pillay signed the Anti-Terrorism Act sent to Parliament. That led to the resignation of Cassam Uteem and his predecessor Angidi Chettiars. The law allows for detention of suspects for much longer periods, and denies suspects of terrorism the right of defense.
In 2002 Karl Hoffman was elected chairman of the National Assembly. Minister of Information, Technology and Telecommunications Geehad Geelchand traveled to India, the UK, France and Ireland to promote Mauritius as a new center for IT development.
On the anniversary of the terrorist attack in New York, Prime Minister Anerood Jugnauth conducted a meeting with US Ambassador to the country, John Price. The main theme of the meeting was the fight against terrorism.
In early 2003, Anerood Jugnauth placed the leadership of MSM in the hands of his son, Pravind, and in September he left the Prime Minister’s post to Paul Bérenger – the first Hindu in the post. In October, Jugnauth assumed the post of the country’s president.
In early 2004, the police launched an investigation into a transfer of DKK 25 million. US $ to a Swiss bank account in 1997. The money apparently was to be used to support the Labor Party, which at that time had government power. Among the three responsible for the transfer were Navim Ramgoolam, then prime minister.
In late January 2004, representatives of small island states met in the Bahamas to prepare for the summit to be held in Mauritius at the end of 2004 with the participation of 300 representatives from the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, southern China, the Pacific, the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean.
Population 2000
According to COUNTRYAAH, the population of Mauritius in 2000 was 1,185,034, ranking number 153 in the world. The population growth rate was 0.980% yearly, and the population density was 583.8153 people per km2.
