Mauritius Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam

PORT LOUIS (Reuters) - Position: Prime Minister Incumbent: Navinchandra Ramgoolam Date of Birth: July 14, 1947 Term: From May 5, 2010 for five years Navin Ramgoolam, the son of the man who led Mauritius to independence in 1968, was prime minister from 1995 to 2000 and won office again in 2005 when his coalition defeated the supporters of then premier Paul Bérenger. In 2006, he launched a program to cut bureaucracy and simplify taxes in order to lure foreign investors to the Indian Ocean island in a bid to diversify the $10 billion economy from tourism, textiles and sugar exports. Since then, Mauritius has grown as an offshore financial center and has been ranked the easiest place to do business in Africa by the World Bank. Since 2008, he has campaigned for "Maurice Ile Durable", a policy he says aims to build a sustainable economy, society and environment. Roads and other infrastructure have been upgraded, and a new 14 billion Mauritius rupee ($451 million) airport has been built. Ramgoolam, who practiced as a doctor and lawyer before turning to politics full time, has held the finance portfolio since June when Finance Minister Xavier Duval resigned over the ruling coalition's support for changing the constitution to grant the now ceremonial presidency more powers under a second republic. Ramgoolam has proved adept at managing shifting political alliances. In 2010, he won an election after his Labour Party allied with the Militant Socialist Movement, a party that had opposed him in 2005. When that party then quit the alliance in 2011, three of its members switched to join Ramgoolam's Labour Party and ensured he kept a majority. (Reporting by Jean Paul Arouff; Editing by Edmund Blair and Louise Ireland)