In joining the OAPI, Mauritania agreed to a number of international agreements governing intellectual property. These include the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literacy and Artistic Works, the Hague Convention for the Registration of Original Trade Names, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the Washington Treaty of Patents, and the Vienna Treaty on the Registration of Trade Names. To apply these measures, the government adopted a variety of laws and procedures, including recent measures banning anti-competitive practices and authorizing the creation of consumer interest groups. The liberalization of the exchange system and the import regime in 1994 and 1995 have reduced the government's role in the economy. Efficient Capital Markets and Portfolio Investment Mauritanian government policies do not discourage the free flow of financial resources.
Credit is allocated on market terms.
Foreign investors can get credit on the local market without any governmental restrictions, although most foreign investors prefer external financing. The GIRM's economic program adopted restrictive and selective credit policies that give priority to productive sectors. Banking sector reform has been a critical goal of the government's economic reorganization. There is no shortage of unskilled manpower in major cities. However, there is a shortage of skilled workers and well-trained technical personnel in most sectors of the economy except the mining sector, which has adequate skilled workers and qualified managers.