India and Mauritius embarked on a major business venture together. The two countries have taken their bilateral relations a step further with Mauritius opting to enhance its entrepreneurial capacity through Entrepreneurship Development Institute’s (EDI) expertise, reports the Times of India.

And recently Jangbahadoor Seetaram, minister of business, enterprise and cooperatives, government of Mauritius and Jean Maxy Simonet, permanent secretary of the ministry met in Ahmedabad to sign a MoU representing Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) under the aegis of their ministry with EDI. Under the deal, the institute will help Mauritius in developing its SMEs and MSMEs, will lend its technical support to build strong cooperatives, will set up clusters, incubators and form a robust handicraft industry.

“To sustain any external shock and to have a permanent, strong SME and MSME sector, we need to develop our local market. EDI will help us become professionals, it will teach us how to innovate,” said Seetaram.

Currently, the SME sector contributes to 40 percent of Mauritius’ GDP and provides for 54 percent of its employment, reports The Times of India.