A company owned by the ruler of Dubai plans to invest $250-million in Mauritius’s financial, real estate and tourism sectors ”over the coming years”, officials in the Indian Ocean nation said on Tuesday.
The announcement was made by the Mauritian Board of Investment on its website.
Officials from Dubai Group, part of Dubai Holding owned by the emirate’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, could not immediately be reached for comment.
But a statement by its executive chairperson, Soud Ba’alawy, carried on the website, said the group had been preparing its investment plan for the last two years.
”This is just the beginning,” he said. ”We see Mauritius also serving as a platform for our regional investments.”
With a population of 1,3-million people, Mauritius has been opening and diversifying its roughly $7-billion economy since 2006, seeking business in an increasingly competitive world.
Dubai businessmen have been active throughout the Indian Ocean this year. Dubai World, a state-owned conglomerate, said this month it would invest $70-million in a Comoros hotel. – Reuters