Sri Lankan, Thai diplomats accredited |07 October 2015

Tikiri Herath Gunathilake is the new Sri Lankan resident high commissioner to Seychelles, while Prasittiporn Wetprasit is the new Thai ambassador.

Both diplomats presented their letters of accreditation to President James Michel at State House yesterday morning before paying a courtesy call on Vice-President Danny Faure soon after.

Dr Gunathilake is replacing Rajatha Piyatissa who was accredited the first resident high commissioner of Sri Lanka here on June 24, 2014. He left Seychelles in March this year.

Mr Wetprasit replaces Ittiporn Boonpracong who had represented his country here from September 2012 until January this year.

Speaking to the local press after meeting President Michel and Vice-President Faure, Dr Gunathilake said it is the “earnest hope of Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena to strengthen and maintain cultural, social and economic relations in an unprecedented manner and to expect every possible support from Seychelles.”

Dr Gunathilake said before coming here he met Seychelles’ first resident high commissioner in Sri Lanka Philippe Le Gall and has thanked him for his encouragement and support.

He noted that being in Seychelles is like being at home away from home and he will work to take cooperation and relations between the two countries to new heights.

As for Thai ambassador, Mr Wetprasit, he highlighted and commended the remarkable cooperation that exists between Seychelles and Thailand in various fields namely environment, hospitality and tourism industry as well as fisheries.

He stressed on the fact that Thailand has a corner in the Botanical Gardens where visitors can see and appreciate different flora from the Asian country.

“I want to further strengthen technical cooperation in areas like botanical gardens, agriculture and hotel management,” Mr Wetprasit pointed out.

He said like Thailand, Seychelles receives and depends a lot on its tourism and hospitality industry for its income and during his mandate he will seek to encourage more Thai visitors to come here for holiday and inform investors of the great business potential and opportunity that can be explored in Seychelles.  

“I will try to persuade Thai businessmen in tourism and hotel management to come and explore the great business opportunity that Seychelles offers,” Mr Wetprasit explained.

Mr Wetprasit is based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Present during the meetings were the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport, Joël Morgan and the President's Diplomatic Adviser, Ambassador Callixte D’Offay.