At Glover Cottages on the morning of 16 November, AIIA NSW President Richard Broinowski and Vice-President Ian Lincoln received a call from the High Commissioner-designate of Mauritius, HE Christelle Sohun, accompanied by Dr Roseline Yardin, CEO of Trade and Investment at MauriTrade in Sydney, and Arvind Radhakrishna, CEO of Enterprise Mauritius in Port Louis, Mauritius.

The High Commissioner set out her objectives for the High Commission in Australia, including trade development, promotion of Mauritius as a doorway for doing business in African countries, the development of shared positions on international environmental issues, cooperation on fisheries management, and the battle against terrorism.

She noted that, somewhat to her surprise, she had found that Australians were largely unaware of Mauritius – even of its broad geographical location. She had begun a program of visiting the states to increase her own range of contacts and to find opportunities for spreading information about Mauritius and the opportunities it offered to Australians, especially in business and tourism. Mauritius was an attractive stopover for travellers going on to African and European destinations, and there was a prospect of increased Australia-Mauritius air services.

The High Commissioner took note of the platform offered by the AIIA for promoting discussion of Mauritius and its relations with Australia, and expressed interest in taking up a speaking invitation early in 2018.