Russian envoy pays courtesy call on VP Faure |28 August 2014

The special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East, Mikhail L. Bogdanov, paid a courtesy call on Vice-President Danny Faure yesterday at State House.

Mr Bogdanov, who is also the deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, was accompanied by a delegation from his country.

In an interview with the press after his meeting with Vice-President Faure, Mr Bogdanov said they discussed “pertinent issues of mutual advantages” to both countries.

“Seychelles and Russia have enjoyed diplomatic relations since Seychelles gained its independence in 1976 and in 2016 we are going to celebrate 40 years of this relationship. The prospect of our relationship is very promising. We have been developing the humanitarian and educational aspects of our interaction. And for a fact, over the years a number of Seychellois have studied in Russia,” Mr Bogdanov said.  

Last year 14,500 Russians came to Seychelles on holiday and many young Russians are in favour of honeymooning in Seychelles.

“We intend to further develop and broaden our relationship, trade and economic interactions between the two countries. Naturally our business community are expressing a vivid interest in further developing interactions with Seychelles and we think those prospects are very promising especially in the tourism field such as hotel construction,” he said.

He also noted that this coming November a Seychelles parliament delegation headed by the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Herminie is expected to visit Russia.

Noting that Russia attaches great importance to mass media, Mr Bogdanov said they would like to deepen relationship between the two countries’ media.