Abstract
The Platform State examines Mauritius’ emerging role in a more volatile Indian Ocean, where trade corridors, energy flows, data cables, maritime insurance and strategic rivalry are becoming harder to separate. The report argues that Mauritius is not a chokepoint in the manner of Hormuz, Suez, Malacca or Bab el-Mandeb. Its advantage is subtler, and potentially more valuable: a stable, rules-based jurisdiction able to offer legal credibility, financial services, arbitration, compliance, risk structuring, blue-economy governance and neutral convening in a region where trust is becoming scarce.
The paper’s central judgement is deliberately sober. Mauritius is unlikely to face direct military destabilisation, but it is increasingly exposed to second-order instability through fuel, freight, insurance, food prices, aviation, exchange rates and household confidence. With a population of around 1.246 million, GDP of approximately US$14.94 billion, services accounting for 64.4% of GDP, and 1.436 million tourist arrivals recorded in 2025, the island has real platform assets. It also carries hard constraints: imported fossil fuels supplied 90.9% of primary energy requirement in 2024, the current-account deficit stood at 6.5% of GDP, public debt was projected around 88% of GDP, and reserves, although substantial, are a buffer rather than a licence for fiscal comfort.
The Chagos–Diego Garcia settlement sharpens the issue. Sovereignty, security and Chagossian justice cannot be treated as separate files. Managed well, Chagos strengthens Mauritius’ legal standing and Indian Ocean relevance. Managed casually, it risks making the country appear strategically exposed without receiving the full benefits of alignment.
The report’s policy line is simple, if not easy: protect the home base, then monetise stability. Cost-of-living control, fuel and food continuity, rupee credibility, targeted support, transparent pricing and institutional discipline are not domestic side-notes; they are the foundations of the platform strategy. Mauritius should not try to sound louder in the Indian Ocean. It should become more useful: calm, lawful, commercially clean and boringly competent where it counts.
