Mauritius National Day celebrated
Zubair Qureshi
High Commissioner of Mauritius to Pakistan, Rashidally Soobadar on Monday urged the Pakistani and the Mauritius businessmen, investors and tourists to take maximum advantage of the immense opportunities in tourism and trade sectors of both the countries. There are areas in which Pakistan and Mauritius can work together and learn from each other’s expertise, he said. R Soobadar was addressing a ceremony marking the 55th anniversary of Independence and 31st anniversary of the Republic Day of Mauritius.
A cake was also cut on the occasion to celebrate the national day of Mauritius. Earlier, national anthems of both the countries were also played. Additional Secretary (Africa) Javed Ahmed Umrani was the chief guest on the occasion while Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Ambassador of Turkmenistan Atadjan Movlamov, Dean of the African diplomats Moroccan ambassador Mohamed Karmoune shared the stage along with High Commissioner of Mauritius and Javed Umrani. Besides, a large number of ambassadors and diplomats from various Arab, African, European, SAARC and ASEAN countries were in attendance. The High Commissioner of Mauritius gave an overview of the history, culture, growth and economy of the island and said the government of Mauritius after the independence from the British in 1968, initiated a welfare oriented programme and worked for the welfare of its population. Today, education is free from pre-primary to the university level while students enjoy free travelling in buses and there are no exam fees even though there is Cambridge system of examination in Mauritius, he said. In Mauritius, literacy rate is 100pc, he further said adding, in the health sector too, the government offers free health facilities to its citizens. These are some of the areas the Pakistani authorities can work with the Mauritius government, he said adding the Mauritius government provided to every single Mauritian reaching the age of 60, an allowance equal to PKR 70,000.
