In an article to l?express of the 23rd July 2007 under the title, ?Mauritian textile faces major setbacks? I drew Mauritian attention to the international threats facing the exports of textile and apparel products to the United States which during my time as Trade Commissioner in Washington had become the leading market for Mauritian apparel exports worldwide with the help of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

In 1996 the United States Administration and Congress introduced a similar scheme called the ?Qualifying Industrial Zones? (QIZs) to support the peace process in the Middle East providing duty free entry into the USA for apparel goods meeting what is called the Breaux-Cardin provision of 35% value added between Israeli and Jordanian producers and Israeli and Egyptian producers on the other.

Egypt is now one of the biggest exporters of apparel to the USA especially in cotton goods which are in direct competition with the majority of Mauritian exports.

Now, to again support the peace process between Afghanistan and Pakistan, legislation has been introduced into the US Senate, called the Afghanistan-Pakistan Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (S 2778), which will offer the same type of programme as the QIZs of the Middle East.

Pakistan alone is the 10th largest source of apparel imports into the USA, with an export volume that doubles the total exports of all of Africa to that continent.

I am sorry but it will not be sugar, Mauritian rum or even monkeys, that will replace the 94% of Mauritian exports to the USA that apparel represented when I left Washington.

Compounded with a strong rupee that continues to undercut our competitive edge in the largest consumer market in the world, the situation does not bode well for our principal employment sector. Especially for women and those who have spent a generation or more in creating the economic fabric of Mauritius.

Peter CRAIG