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News from Washington

Mauritius and U.S. sign new Customs agreement

The United States and Mauritius have signed a new Customs Agreement aimed at helping Mauritius improve its customs procedures and prevent fraud and illegal activities in the flow of trade in and out of the country.

The accord was signed in Washington on Oct. 29 between U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner W. Ralph Basham and Kailash Ruhee, Mauritius ambassador to the United States.

The agreement sets up a legal framework for the exchange of information that will help Mauritius improve its national customs laws, especially as they relate to commercial fraud, drug trafficking and combating terrorism, the U .S. Customs agency said in a statement.

"The exchange of enforcement information is extremely important in protecting the legitimate flow of goods," Commissioner Basham said. "This agreement will enable our administration to exchange such information and engaging other forms of mutual assistance including cooperation in the fight against terrorism."

The agreement should offer many benefits to Mauritius, especially as the country seeks to further diversify its economy by increasing international trade.

"Mauritius expects to benefit from U.S. experience in fraud prevention and detection, modernization of customs administration and transfer of technology and know-how," said Vinod Busjeet, Trade Commissioner at the Mauritius Embassy in Washington.

"Moreover, the agreement will enhance the profile of Mauritius as a regional trade and business hub because Mauritian customs will be operating at international standards of transparency," he said.

U.S. shifts on Free Trade

As anti-trade sentiments are taking hold in Washington and across America, it's becoming clear that the United States government won't be signing new free trade agreements anytime soon.

With Democrats in control of Congress and the presidential campaign getting into full gear, politicians from the White House to the campaign trail are turning the cold shoulder to free trade. Politicians are taking notice of public opinion polls that indicate a rising discontent with globalization among members of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

As a result, several pending free-trade agreements with three Latin American countries have hit the rocks, as Democrats in Congress say they won't go along unless the deals include safeguards for the environment and organized labor. President Bush, with only one more year to go in his presidency, is going along. He has indicated that his administration is willing to compromise with Democrats on those deals. Another factor has been congressional refusal to renew the president's Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority, which allows the president to offer a trade deal to Congress on an up or down vote, without amendments. That has now been put off until after the 2008 presidential election.

These anti-trade developments are not good signs for countries like Mauritius, which would like to eventually strike a free-trade agreement with the United States, and is trying to get through Congress a third-country fabric rule to benefit its textile exports to United States.

Mauritius had always hoped that the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), signed between the two countries last year, would be the first step toward a full-blown Free Trade Agreement, which removes most barriers to trade and investment.

This was always a long shot, given the fact that as a remote island nation with a small economy, Mauritius could offer little at the negotiating table in terms of trade or U.S. political or strategic interests. Mauritius, in fact, is smaller than any country with which the U.S. has negotiated trade deals.

Meanwhile, on the campaign trail, Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton has taken a decidedly anti-trade stance. In contrast to her husband Bill Clinton who championed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), she has backed away from NAFTA, voted against an FTA with the Dominican Republic, and called for a "timeout" on further trade agreements until their impact can be studied.

U.S. medical team to arrive in Mauritius Sunday

A team of U.S. medical professionals from the New Jersey College of Medicine will be in Mauritius from Nov. 4-15 to perform an array of specialized plastic surgery procedures that are not now readily available on the island.

Working with Dr. Gunessee at Victoria Hospital, the team led by Dr. Mark Granick will perform surgeries on pre-selected patients who suffer from different ailments, ranging from cleft palate to deformities related to diabetes. This is the second time the American team has come to Mauritius; they did similar surgeries in November 2006. The medical mission was the idea of Shyam Noruthun, a Mauritian national who works with Dr. Granick at the New Jersey College of Medicine. Noruthun, a nurse practitioner, will be accompanying the mission and help with the surgeries.

The team will also be bringing with them equipment and medical supplies that are in short supply in Mauritius and will aid in plastic surgery procedures. Most of the equipment has been donated by American medical companies, and includes boxes of sutures and instruments used in facial surgeries, as well as a Versajet machine used to clean wounds and an autoclave, used to sterilize medical instruments.

Aside from the surgeries, Dr. Granick and his wife, Dr. Carol Singer-Granick, will give lectures to the medical community on the island. Dr. Singer-Granick is a pediatric endocrinologist and will speak about managing diabetes in children.

The Ministry of Health is paying for the team to travel to Mauritius from the United States, but the doctors are performing the surgeries for free.

Mauritians in U.S./Canada donate $25,000 for school projects

Mgr. Maurice Piat has concluded his pastoral visit to meet with Mauritians living in Canada and the United States. He will return to Mauritius on Nov. 15 after stops in France and the U.K.

"Mgr. Piat est d'une bonté et d'une simplicité extraordinaires et il sait mettre tout le mond à l'aise," dit Teresa Wong, qui a organisé la visite au Canada.

The bishop made stops in Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Alberta, where he met with Mauritians, held Mass, and also took in many of the sites of these cities in visits organized by the local community.

The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Trait d'Union, a charity organization of Mauritians living in the United States and Canada who raise money to finance educational projects in Mauritius, especially those that help poor children.

A fundraising dinner in Montreal on Oct. 20 was attended by about 500 people and raised $15,000 for Collège BPS-Fatima in Goodlands, Wong said. The money will be used to buy laboratory equipment and computers.

During his visit to Washington, DC., the bishop met with Mauritians and delivered Mass at a Catholic Church in Virginia, which was organized by Suzanne Kon Kam King, head of Trait d'Union USA-Mauritius. "Parishioners were so taken in by him that they donated nearly $1,000," Suzanne said.

When combined with money raised at other fundraising events during the year in the Washington area, the group offered the bishop a check for $10,000 that will be used for the Catholic Diocese's educational projects.

That brings the total contributions from both U.S. and Canada donations to a generous $25,000.

a m e r i c a n   s c e n e

WEEK-END --- dimanche 4 novembre 2007