Celebrating Europe Day 2023 in Mauritius
Honourable Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, Home Affairs and External Communications, Minister for Rodrigues, Outer Islands and Territorial Integrity
His Excellency Mr Eddy Boissezon, Vice President of the Republic of Mauritius,
Honourable Sudheer Maudhoo, Minister of Blue Economy, Marine Resources, Fisheries and Shipping and his team
Honourable Ministers
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
My dear colleagues from the Team Europe
Head of delegations of the IOTC Parties
Madame the Chairperson of the 27th Annual session of the IOTC
Members of the IOTC Secretariat
Representatives from the private sector and the civil society
Representatives from the press
Dear EU Colleagues from my Delegation as well as from BXL Headquarters
Ladies and Gentlemen
Distinguished guests,
Good evening and a very warm welcome in this wonderful setting at the Odysseo oceanarium.
As many of you know, I am passionate about the sea. I am a frequent scuba diver and have had the chance, during my 4 years here, to dive in several marine biodiversity hotspots of Mauritius and of the region. When you dive, you enter as a guest like we do here today in a different world, only surrounded by silence and by the incredible beauty of life below water (some of it you can see behind me).
No surprise why tourists and especially the 50%+ European tourists travel up to 12,000 km to discover the wonders of Mauritius’ coastline and sea.
But, those wonders, we have the duty to protect them and to use them carefully.
I am therefore very proud to welcome you this evening in Odysseo to celebrate Europe Day. This is the last one of my mandate, actually the last one of my career as EU Ambassador.
We are also gathered tonight to celebrate the EU-Mauritius partnership for oceans. Let me from the very outset convey my sincere and warm thanks to Minister Maudhoo for agreeing to co-host this important event with me.
Let me start with a word about the significance of the Europe Day.
Europe Day is traditionally about peace and unity.
73 years ago, in a declaration that lays the foundation for construction of the European Union, one of the EU’s founding fathers proposed to pool coal and steel production, to make war between historic rivals France and Germany,— to quote Robert Schuman — "not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible”.
However, more than 7 decades later, due to the brutal and imperialist war conducted by Russia against Ukraine, war is unfortunately back on the European continent and we realize more than ever how important peace is for our life in a globalized and interdependent world. However, war also spreads or is threatening to spread in many other parts of the world, including close to us here in Africa, from Capo Delgado to North Kivu and central Africa, up to Horn of Africa and Soudan into the Sahel… Last year, military expenditures have reached new records high since cold war, an extremely worrying signal.
Celebrating Europe Day is hence first and foremost about peace and solidarity, about the values of cooperation and the principles of peaceful relations and multilateralism enshrined in the UN Charter.
It is also about celebrating the European Union's partnership with its partner countries around the world.
My 4 years in Mauritius have shown me that our 52 years’ old partnership has constantly been developing to cover a growing number of areas. These include the traditional sugar and textile reforms, infrastructure development, trade and investment, climate change and environment, circular economy and smart agriculture, good governance and the preservation of democracy as well as new challenges such as cybersecurity and disinformation.
We greatly value this far reaching partnership that is so intense and so mutually beneficial to our countries, our economic operators and our citizens.
This year, we have decided to focus on our partnership for oceans.
Why oceans?
Because they are simply so critical for the survival of humankind…
Oceans represent 70% of our planet and are therefore the largest ecosystem. They provide the air we breathe, regulate the climate, provide food and revenues to billions of people around the world.
Yet, they face numerous threats stemming from human activity, namely pollution, climate change, illegal fishing and maritime crimes, just to name a few.
Conscious of the importance of ocean for human beings, the EU and the Republic of Mauritius have been working together in these critical areas for decades.
Let me just briefly mentioned the most important ones:
Sustainable fishing
We both promote the sustainable and transparent management of the oceans through our fisheries agreement and participation in the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission. This organisation has the immense task to ensure the responsible and sustainable management of Tuna resources in the Indian Ocean.
Mauritius is currently hosting the 27th Session of the IOTC and I wish to acknowledge the presence among us this evening of delegates from member states of this commission. This year in particular, you have the very delicate duty to tackle the issue of overfishing while ensuring not only a just and scientifically based spread of the efforts, but also the consensual approach that is key for the efficiency and credibility of your organisation.
Maritime and Port Security
The European Union is actively working with many stakeholders at national and regional level to promote maritime security and we look forward to the Presidency by Mauritius of the Indian Ocean Commission that will start next week.
With our Maritime security programme MASE, we have reinforced the maritime architecture that currently gathers 7 countries of the region. In addition with our naval forces EUNAVFOR, we have ensured a military presence in the region since 2008 to successfully fight piracy; we have now extended the mandate to cover new threats in particular drugs and arms trafficking and we look forward to reinforce our cooperation on “legal finish” with Mauritius and with other countries in the region.
IUU - illegal, unreported and unregulated – fishing is yet another threat where we work together and share our experience with Mauritius to reinforce the national revised legal framework to be soon submitted to Parliament. We also jointly invest in port security because we know that many illegal activities start or go through ports as evidence and experience have shown us on and on.
The Blue economy and its potential
Looking into the future, we are actively working in the field of the blue economy, a sector that holds great potential, whether in marine biology, cosmetics or pharmaceuticals.
We support the search for investment in this area and we organised in last September in Seychelles the first-ever BlueInvest outside Europe: BlueInvest-Africa gathered 25 innovative African businesses, including several from Mauritius, who had the opportunity to present their projects to potential investors.
Preservation of the ecosystems
We have been working for years with the Mauritian authorities and institutions to study and protect the ecosystem. We also support civil society actors for the preservation and reforestation of mangroves, the protection of corals and seagrasses and research on marine species.
We have been working for decades with the Indian Ocean Commission - IOC - for sustainable fisheries as well as protection of marine biodiversity. The IOC has for example an agreement with Odysseo as part of the ExPLOI project led by the French Development Agency and the French Fund for the Global Environment.
And this gives me the opportunity to underline that besides our own action, there is the coordinated and constant engagement of our Member States. In Mauritius, we work efficiently as Team Europe with the French Embassy, the French Development Agency and the Région La Réunion.
But our partnership goes beyond the national or regional framework.
We also work at international level to support important initiatives such as the adoption at the end of last year of the Agreement on the Protection of Marine Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction – better known by its English acronym BBNJ. Here again, the EU-Mauritius partnership has demonstrated its solidity and effectiveness in pushing for coalitions and concrete outcomes.
Hon Prime Minister, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen
The fight against climate change will never be complete if we don’t work actively on preservation of oceans.
As a diver, I have witnessed that Mauritius is a unique marine biodiversity hotspot with wonders – some of them are to be discovered here at Odysseo in a ludic and educative manner. The richness of this biodiversity is all around the many islands of Mauritius such as the sperm whale family that lives here off the west coast. Ms. Kobita Jugnauth in drawing the attention to the urgent need for preservation and regulation has recently given the name of Varuna - a deity - to the last born of the sperm whales family. Incidentally, Varuna is also a programme of the French Development Agency for the preservation of the biodiversity of the south-west region of the Indian Ocean.
This preservation would certainly not have been effective without the long-standing commitment of dedicated Mauritian citizens grouped for example within the Marine Megafauna Conservation Organization MMCO. Their dedication to the wealth of the ocean is shown at the occasion of the photo exhibition that we will inaugurate in a few minutes.
Education and sensitisation: these are key to the preservation of oceans
We are today in a perfect setting for kids initiation to protecting ocean life. We have to educate the young generation and sensitise them on the importance of oceans for life on Earth with games, field visits and art.
We need to act rapidly and decisively for our oceans; investing in the future generation is an essential part of what we have to do. At the photo exhibition, you will have the opportunity later during the evening to discover pictures including of artworks by schools from the PAREO project - generously provided by our partners. You will also be able to learn more about some of the projects I have mentioned before in the “Espace projets” we have set up outside on the terrace.
Conclusion
Au cours de mes 4 années comme ambassadeur de l'Union européenne auprès de la République de Maurice, la soutenabilité s’est indéniablement imposé comme le mot clé dans tous les domaines de notre partenariat.
Je me suis engagé, avec toute mon énergie et toute ma passion, pour faire avancer nos priorités liées aux fameux SDGs, notamment la protection des océans, la promotion du tourisme durable, l’économie circulaire, les énergies renouvelables et des échanges commerciaux ou des investissements qui intègrent cette notion de soutenabilité, de même que pour l'amélioration des infrastructures - je pense ici au projet phare de l'aéroport de Rodrigues qui s’accompagne un plan intégré de développement soutenable de l’île sur 10 ans.
A l’heure du bilan, je crois pouvoir regarder avec satisfaction en voyant l’ampleur du travail accompli, avec l'aide de toute mon équipe très engagée et très professionnelle de la Délégation de l’UE.
Mais je dois également souligner ce soir le soutien constant et l’appui au quotidien d’une personne en particulier de mon épouse Anne qu’il s’agisse de ce choix commun de vie diplomatique à travers le monde comme plus généralement de mes 36 années de carrière au sein des institutions européennes. Merci à tous et merci elle tout spécialement.
Ce soir, je tiens évidemment aussi à adresser mes sincères remerciements aux autorités, ainsi qu’à tous nos partenaires et à mes chers collègues. Pendant ces quatre années, votre coopération nous a permis de tenir le cap malgré les nombreuses crises et parfois tempêtes que nous avons traversées ensemble.
Je pense à la pandémie de la COVID, au naufrage du Wakashio suivi d'autres accidents maritimes, aux listes du GAFI et de l'UE et plus récemment aux répercussions de l'agression russe en Ukraine et aux atteintes à la démocratie, à la bonne gouvernance et aux droits humains contenus dans la charte des Nations Unis. Et particulièrement ce soir, en ce lieu, je pense à la perte de biodiversité et au changement climatique qui nous affectent tous et qui doivent nous mobiliser toutes et tous.
Forts de nos valeurs communes et de notre solidarité, nous avons cherché à relever les défis successifs qui ont, je le crois, renforcé notre compréhension mutuelle et notre solidarité.
Ma conviction profonde est que notre partenariat continuera à se développer. C'est une nécessité.
Pour revenir au thème de cette soirée, permettez-moi de citer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, qui disait ceci : « Nous n'héritons pas de la terre de nos parents, nous l'empruntons à nos enfants ». Et bien sûr comme le rappelle inlassablement les experts du GIEC il n’y a pas de planète B.
Pour préserver la vie sur notre planète, en particulier sur nos îles fragiles et vulnérables, nous devons agir ensemble et c'est ce que nous faisons - l'UE et la République de Maurice. La façon dont nous continuerons à travailler ensemble pour l’environnement, pour notre planète, sera un facteur déterminant pour bâtir un avenir meilleur et plus sûr pour tous nos citoyens.
Merci de votre attention.