By Ed Harris

PORT LOUIS, Dec 8 (Reuters) - The European Union and Mauritius signed aid deals worth 44.7 million euros ($65 million) on Saturday, after the resolution of a dispute between the Indian Ocean nation's government and its sugar producers.

Mauritius, facing a 36 percent cut in the EU sugar price, has put in place a 10-year plan to make its sugar industry more efficient and more flexible, building capacity to produce refined sugars, ethanol and electricity.

But until a deal on Wednesday between the government and the Mauritius Sugar Producers' Assocation, the reforms were held up by negotiations over the electricity supply and new government demands for land and share ownership.

Claudia Wiedey, the EU ambassador to Mauritius, said in a statement that the sugar deal was "vital" if Mauritius was to get access to the EU aid funds.

The money is conditional on Mauritius meeting targets in sugar reform, governance, macroeconomic stability, and a long-term energy strategy, Mauritian Finance Minister Rama Sithanen said.

"To get the money you ... must implement what you have agreed," he told journalists. Most of the cash will be spent on sugar reforms, infrastructure and the environment, he said.

Sithanen said another aid deal worth 51 million euros for 2008-2013 was due for signature this weekend at an EU-Africa summit in Lisbon, the first between the two blocs for seven years.

Mauritius is also expecting aid worth 9.5 million euros linked to EU sugar price cuts and Mauritius' loss of export earnings, he said.

Besides being Mauritius' largest donor, Europe buys two-thirds of Mauritian exports, chiefly textiles, fish, and sugar. (Editing by Bryson Hull and Tim Pearce)

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