Indian Ocean Conference Region’s wealth should benefit the people, VP tells delegates |02 September 2017
Seychelles fully supports all initiatives that would bring peace, progress and prosperity to the peoples of the Indian Ocean, Vice-President Vincent Meriton told the Second Indian Ocean Conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka on Thursday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the conference as one of the four main speakers, Vice-President Meriton said the peoples of the countries of the Indian Ocean should always remain the primary beneficiaries of all decisions taken locally and internationally.
“Prosperity should not remain confined within the boundaries of our respective countries but should also spread to those in the region,” he told the hundreds of delegates from the 32 Indian Ocean countries and other concerned nations attending the two-day conference at Temple Trees in the Sri Lankan capital.
The delegates of this second Indian Ocean Conference (IOC 2017) were meeting in Colombo to present their views on how to achieve peace, progress and prosperity in the region and follow up on issues raised at the first conference held in Singapore last year.
This second conference was organised by the India Foundation with other partners in Colombo and apart from Vice-President Meriton, the other main speakers during the inaugural session were the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremersinghe, the External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj and the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Singapore Vivian Balakrishnan.
Vice-President Meriton expressed unequivocal support for the choice of conference’s theme ‘A Vision for Peace, Progress and Prosperity’, explaining that peace is an aspiration that the peoples of the Indian Ocean region hold dear.
“Conflict in our region or in any other part of the globe for that matter, would be damaging to the economic well-being of our peoples, with the risk of wiping out important gains achieved over decades of investment and hard work,” he said, adding that for small island economies such as that of Seychelles, the repercussions of prolonged hostilities would be devastating.
The development potential of the region’s vast ocean space and underlying marine resources could signify avenues for progress, the Vice-President said, adding that Seychelles already had a clear strategy in terms of how it wanted to sustainably implement the Blue Economy road map.
“We look at the Blue Economy as the beacon that will drive Seychelles toward progress and prosperity. The pursuit of our Blue Economy agenda will not only lead us towards the realisation of the United Nations Strategic Development Goal 14 but also to wealth creation through innovation and value-addition,” he said.
Peace and progress was bound to result in prosperity, he said, and this could be enhanced through the sharing of knowledge and good practices, as well as through the support of partners.
He gave as examples the two innovative finance projects undertaken by Seychelles, the first a debt swap to develop a marine spatial plan of the country’s exclusive economic zone and to designate 30% of the archipelago’s maritime space as protected areas.
The second project is to issue a blue bond, aimed at supporting the transition to sustainable artisanal fisheries in Seychelles.
“I am proud to announce that the realisation of both of these projects are well underway,” he said, adding though that these could not have been implemented without the support of “our friends and international partners who continue to advocate on our behalf”.
For his part the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Wickremersinghe said his country would take a leading role in establishing a stable legal order for the freedom of navigation in the Indian Ocean and promote regional trade.
He also proposed the establishment of an Indian Ocean Fund which will provide much-needed capital for national banks in the region to promote business expansion.
As for the Indian Foreign Minister she said her country was committed to preserving and advancing regional cooperation.
