§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what steps he is taking to improve the volume of trade between Mauritius and the United Kingdom; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ChannonI see considerable scope for a modest increase in trade between the United Kingdom and Mauritius. For this reason, my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, who visited Mauritius in October 1983, signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Mauritius for a £12.25 million aid and credit package. Under this agreement projects mutually acceptable to both Governments will have access to funding from: the package. A number of such projects have already been identified and disbursements are expected to start shortly.
§ Mr. Greenwayasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what were the trading figures between the United Kingdom and Mauritius in each year since the independence of Mauritius and up to the latest date for which figures are available.
§ Mr. ChannonThe information is as follows:
Value £ million United Kingdom imports (cif) United Kingdom experts (fob) United Kingdom imports (cif) United Kingdom exports (fob) 1969 21.6 4.8 1977 96.7 34.6 1970 22.3 5.9 1978 123.2 31.6 1971 17.3 3.4 1979 115.7 30.5 1972 27.0 8.1 1980 138.9 24.9 1973 28.3 10.5 1981 97.4 21.6 1974 48.5 20.0 1982 119.4 20.8 1975 104.6 24.3 1983 129.0 22.6 1976 99.9 28.4 *1984 106.9 18.9 * January to September. Sources: "Annual Statements of Overseas Trade" of the United Kingdom (1969–75) and Overseas Trade Statistics of the United Kingdom (1976 onwards).
Note: Figures for 1970 and subsequent years are in accordance with revision 2 of the Standard International Trade Classification and are on the statistical basis currently in use. Figures for 1969 are in accordance with the original version of the classification, but in the case of United Kingdom trade with Mauritius the difference between the two methods of calculation is negligible.