A barrister at law, who also holds a doctorate degree in ecology, the 59 year old Mr. Cuttaree was, prior to his becoming a minister, with the United Nations in the field of environmental planning and, later on, Mauritius' Attorney General. Since 1982 he is a member of Mauritian parliament and has held ministerial portfolios of labour and housing before his current assignment. According to him small countries like Mauritius will be swept off its feet when the free trade wind, under WTO, blows. The two major industries in Mauritius, apart from tourism, are sugar and textile. Besides exporting a major part of its 6 lakh ton sugar production, the country is also an exporter of textiles.
Regional cooperation assumes additional significance when the multi fibre agreement is abolished.
With Mauritius located advantageously in the south-west Indian Ocean region, Mr. Cuttaree would like to take advantage of that as well as the recent developments that have happened in the international trade arena. On 1 September 2000, twelve countries, including Mauritius and South Africa, signed a trade protocol to have zero duty trade. According to Mr. Cuttaree, this is a major step, since the southeastern African states have a population of 300 million, which is a big market for Mauritius to tap. According to him big Indian textile companies can set up their plant in Mauritius to made readymade garments to be exported to Africa. Currently Mauritius exports garments to European Union on a major scale.