The MauSign Certificate Authority (CA), a licensed Certification Authority at the National Computer Board for the issuance, against payment, of digital certificates, was launched this afternoon by the Minister of Technology, Communication and Innovation, Mr. Darsanand Balgobin, in Ebène.
In his address, Minister Balgobin highlighted that the implementation of this new service is aligned with Government’s objective of digitalising public services. Government, he said, is
embarking on a digital transformation for the country’s progress, to enhance the quality of life of all citizen and in order to leverage Mauritius as a high-income country.
With the implementation of the MauSign CA, Mauritius has entered the league of the few countries that have their own CA, stated the Minister. According to him, it will transform the landscape of electronic transactions by facilitating the processes.
He informed that the fees for digital certificates have been decreased. For instance, a digital certificate for an individual for a period of one year will cost Rs 500, whereas for an organisation it will be Rs 1000 for one year.
Mr. Balgobin observed that in the wake of the New Normal following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ICT sector has undergone a growth of 5.9%, and emphasised that Mauritius is stepping up to keep up with the evolving technological landscape.
He stressed that innovation is at the core of his Ministry’s agenda and recalled that Mauritius has ranked ranks first in Africa in Global Innovation Index 2021 and 52 nd in the world.
While recalling that more than 100 public services have been digitalised, the Minister announced another major project in the pipeline, that is the launching of COVID-19 Vaccination Digital Pass via BeSafeMoris.
Other projects include: provision of WiFi connection in all 155 secondary schools, including in Rodrigues,to enable educator and learners carry out academic activities; the NCB will launch courses on robotics in primary schools; setting up of a Smartparking project, and the organisation of the Assises de la recherche et de l’innovation, amongst others.
Digital certificates
The digital certificates are credentials that facilitate the verification of identities between users in a transaction and which can be used to sign information digitally.
The MauSign CA, provides four categories of digital certificates, namely individual, organisation, server and application service providers with a validity of one or two years with provision for renewal.
Users will be able to securely sign documents, letters and emails and will be able to encrypt document. They will obtain both a private key to sign the document and a public key to open and authenticate documents.
