The reform of the Mauritian socio-economic model is a must. The government has kept on insisting on inevitable changes since budget speech a few months ago. However, the population still appears reluctant to see such reforms implemented and their daily lives changed. Four foreign experts on a World Bank (WB) mission will hold a series of seminars aimed at helping the country realise that there is no other alternative. Their experience might contribute to help the public understand that the ultimate objective of the reforms is a better life for tomorrow.

The four experts who will hold conferences today and tomorrow are living witnesses of how reforms can be beneficial to a country. These world personalities are: the former prime minister of Ireland, Garret FitzGerald, the former minister of Finance of New-Zealand, Ruth Richardson, the former minister of Finance from Chile, Nicolas Eyzaguirre Guzman, and the former minister of Finance of Mexico, Santiago Levy. A WB expert, Uri Dadush, will also be present during the coming days as the person in charge of the Development Prospect Group at the WB, a department dealing with the economy of developing countries.

The experts have been chosen in view of their different experiences in their own countries that could easily help fine-tune the Mauritian model. Mauritius could, for instance, use the experience of Ireland in its successful economic transformation based on services, and more especially in Business Process Outsourcing. Likewise, the New Zealand expert will explain how her country managed to go from the status of developing country to one of high-revenue. As for Chile and Mexico, they are examples of change in emerging economies.

<I>These experts have played an active role in the implementation of reforms in their own countries. Hence, these ?lectures? should actually be lively exchanges.</I>

The experts will have two full days of work today and tomorrow. The whole day today is reserved for ministers. There will be a special cabinet meeting at Treasury Building during which the four experts will share their experience with government members. Then, the local minister will describe the government?s difficulties and discussions with the experts are expected to bring some solutions to help the reforms be efficiently implemented.

On Wednesday, the experts will share their experience with a larger audience. In the morning, they will hold working sessions with the stakeholders of the private sector, businessmen, trade unionists and MPs ? both majority and opposition ? at Domaine Les Pailles. In the afternoon, the public will be invited to a series of lectures at Sir Harilal Vaghjee Hall where the experts will answer questions from the audience. Both sessions will be chaired by economist Pierre Dinan.

These lectures appear even more interesting for the country as these experts have played an active part in the implementation of reforms in their own countries. Hence, they will not be purely academic lectures but lively exchanges of experiences and opinions.

Each will address a specific issue. The former Irish PM will explain how his country successfully moved towards a knowledge-based economy. New Zealander Ruth Richardson will insist on the necessity of bringing the public sector into line with the vision of the country. The former Chilean Finance minister will tackle agricultural and industrial restructuring policies. Santiago Levy from Mexico will insist on the social consequences of an economic transition.

The public should be able to ask all sorts of questions to these experts and the government hopes that this will help them be less anxious about the different reforms contained in the budget. Different stake holders of local society have expressed their fears and disagreement with the reforms and the arrival of these experts is expected to make them change their minds. As the Finance minister made it clear in his budget, Mauritius should be more open to foreign expertise, and he seems to be setting the example with these conferences.