● <B>TAX AGREEMENT STILL APPLICABLE</B> ? The Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) will finally be left as it is ? at least for the time being. The joint working group, set up in 2006, has reached this conclusion after discussions in Mauritius during the past few days. The Indian authorities want to review Article 13 of the agreement on the application of capital gains. If they had done so, most offshore companies established in Mauritius would have probably faced serious problems because the absence of taxes on capital gains for companies registered in Mauritius was the main incentive for these companies to settle here. But this represents a loss of earnings for India, and Mauritius is not totally safe, as the agreement is liable to change.

● <B>SHORTAGE OF SPECIALIST DOCTORS</B> ? Mauritius is facing a shortage of specialists in hospitals. The case is particularly serious in the case of heart surgeons, as only three of them are available at the moment while the list for such operations is on the rise. The problem is also serious in the case of anaesthetists, ophthalmologists and neurosurgeons. To try and reduce the shortage, SSR Medical College has already obtained the green light to conduct specialist courses in the fields of ophthalmology and ENT. The authorities will try to make up with foreign specialists and Mauritians with an expertise in the field until a new agreement to train more specialists with Bordeaux University delivers those needed.

● <B>THREE SUPER CAMERAS</B> ? The government intends to purchase three ?super cameras? to increase safety on the road. The prevention campaigns have not proved as fruitful as the government expected them to be and this is why it now wants to take action. These high tech cameras will enable police officers to see into the cars and take pictures of the driver committing an offence ? using their mobile phones while driving, failing to fasten their seat belts, for instance. Police officers working with these cameras will of course have to be trained.