Economic Governance and Management Chapter 4 in particular. Self-adjustment to international shocks, opportunities and changes on international markets is certainly a good approach. However, it should be seen as part of a more proactive approach to developmental thinking and of a clearly expressed vision. This will allow new and emerging challenges to be clearly identified as important steps in developing appropriate strategies to tackle them. 180 439. The Mauritius 2020 Vision was the first cautious attempt to define a common vision of a Mauritius of tomorrow in order to convert it into operational strategies. It was developed in 1995. Nobody currently refers to it as an inspiring vision. The Mauritius Ile Durable (MID) Project is a new initiative, but is restricted to the energy sector, although it tries to link with other development sectors. According to official documents on the project and its senior officials, “[t]he main thrust of the Mauritius Ile Durable is to make Mauritius less dependent on fossil fuel, with a target of 65 per cent autonomy by the year 2028 through increased utilisation of renewable energy and a more efficient use of energy in general. (...) The project includes the setting up of an Eco Park and the organisation of a World Ecological Forum in Mauritius in 2011”. This is laudable, but far away from an overall vision of the Mauritius of tomorrow as a comprehensive guide. 440. The 2009 budget speech highlights government’s objectives for the medium term. These are to ride out the global crisis, save jobs, protect people and prepare for recovery. Once again, government’s pragmatism is a good approach. However, it remains a crisisled approach for self-adjustment to a changing international business environment. It lacks a long-term vision for such an approach. Instead of being a financial expression of plans and programmes for implementing a well-articulated vision, the budget and the budget speech have become government’s coordinating instrument for macroeconomic and development policy. Everybody has to be accommodated in it. However, it is known that, with the end of the preferential treatment (prices above market prices) of its sugar and textile exports and the easy access to the EU market that were the two major drivers of economic growth, Mauritius has to rethink its growth approach and policy. The loss was important: 36 per cent of the previous sugar price. It was then that the country decided to move to a knowledge-based economy, to promote information and communication technology (ICT) and to promote business process outsourcing (BPO) as the new driving sectors so that Mauritius could become a duty free island and a regional, if not world, service centre. The country’s economic governance relies on supporting the private Chapter 4 Economic Governance and Management sector and numerous public enterprises (there are more than 160 parastatals and state-owned companies). 441. Coping with the crisis and moving toward a knowledge-based economy require an important economic reform programme. It includes three strategies that the government has defined: (i) changing the business climate; (ii) simplifying the fiscal system; and (iii) opening the economy to FDI and foreign expertise. It relies on four pillars according to the minister of finance and economic empowerment. These are to: (i) improve the business environment; (ii) improve business competitiveness; (iii) improve the management of parastatals; and (iv) widen the circle of opportunities, or democratise the economy. One would have expected that public enterprises would be at the forefront of economic reforms. However, this is not the case. The process of reforming public enterprises is very slow for several reasons, most of which are caused by the sociopolitical dynamics in the country. Reforming public enterprises is a politically sensitive issue. This is because of the unemployment problem and, more importantly, because the economic base is shrinking and there is potential to limit it politically. Discussions with some stakeholders and development partners confirmed the CRM’s views on the subject. 442. The CRM also thinks that, in striving to build a knowledge-based economy and global competitiveness, Mauritius should attempt to combine natural and acquired advantages. Developing necessary human resources becomes crucial. The country’s geographic position gives it a natural advantage for outsourcing business processes. Because of the time differences with Europe (its first export destination), North America and Asia, Mauritians can work up to 24 hours a day and liaise with different continents and partners at different times. 443. With regard to strategies for economic reform, attracting FDI and promoting competitive export-oriented business in particular will definitely have huge payoffs for the country. However, Mauritius needs to put safeguards in place. A major issue is its sustainability given Mauritius’s recent economic problems, which began even before the world’s financial and economic crisis did. 444. In terms of overall economic performance, the CRM acknowledges that Mauritius has made tremendous efforts and has achieved much. Despite minor discrepancies in data and statistics, there is broad agreement about its economic results. There has been sustained economic growth over the last three decades and the living conditions 181