Reception marks India’s 73rd Independence Day anniversary |17 August 2019
The cake cutting ceremony
The Indian high commission in Seychelles organised a reception at the Kempinski Seychelles Resort on Thursday to mark India’s 73rd Independence Day anniversary.
High Commissioner General Dalbir Singh Suhag and his wife were hosts to a number of guests including members of the diplomatic corps, government officials, as well as Indian expatriates and their families.
Among the VIP guests were Vice-President Vincent Meriton, Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon, Speaker of the National Assembly Nicholas Prea, leader of the opposition Wavel Ramkalawan and leader of government business Charles Decommarmond along with various government ministers.
High Commissioner Suhag and Vice-President Meriton both addressed the attendees and toasted to the longstanding bilateral relations between the people and governments of India and Seychelles.
“India’s bilateral relationship with Seychelles goes back to historical times. However, the last couple of years have witnessed a dramatic transformation in the India-Seychelles bilateral relationship in practically every sphere of our engagement from training and capacity building to development partnership, economic cooperation, infrastructure development, sustainable growth and security and defence partnership,” HC Suhag stated in his evening address.
He noted that both countries are working closely at the bilateral, regional and international forums with a view to counter common threats such as piracy, international terrorism, illegal transportation of weapons, illegal and unauthorised fishing and drug and human trafficking.
With India’s growing global and regional integration, the south-east Asian country has intensified its partnership with Africa in various domains.
“India has emerged as first responder contributing resources to prevent or mitigate regional and international crises, especially natural disasters. When Cyclone Idai made landfall in Mozambique on March 15 this year, bringing devastation to the port city of Beira, a trio of Indian Navy ships conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief exercises around Mauritius were promptly deployed to Beira, travelling nearly 4,800km to rescue survivors, provide medical attention and deliver emergency supplies. The three ships of the First Training Squadron of Indian Navy, INS Tarangini, INS Sujata, INS Shardul and ICGS Sarathi later arrived in Seychelles on April 6 this year,” HC Suhag recalled.
A large number of Seychellois have benefitted from a variety of Indian training and capacity building programmes as well as from educational scholarships provided by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) or under the ambit of India Africa Forum Summit.
Meanwhile India intends to continue with its development assistance to Seychelles to meet its infrastructural needs, HC Suhag reassured.
Projects in the pipeline include the construction of a government house, police headquarters, Attorney General’s office and a state-of-the-art Mahatma Gandhi Convention Centre to celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, all on grant basis.
The new magistrate court which is being constructed through a grant from India will soon be completed and handed over to the people of Seychelles.
For his part, VP Meriton reiterated the strong and historical Indo-Seychellois ties and further extended the government’s gratitude to India for all the assistance and support given to Seychelles in the fruitful implementation of programmes and projects.
“We would also like to express our gratitude to the government of India for the consideration it has given to the construction of 3000 housing units and the construction of a Grand Anse dam in a mixture of lines of credit and grant.”
“The signing of the MoU on small development projects last year during the state visit of President Danny Faure to India, means that India is assisting Seychelles with a number of community-based projects that will improve the lives of Seychelles from all the four corners,” he added.
VP Meriton also revealed the deputisation of Indian experts, under the ITEC programme, in local government offices such as the Attorney General’s office and Auditor General’s office, and soon Indian medical specialists will also be based in Seychelles to assist the Ministry of Health.
The event also included the ceremonious cutting of cake and a cultural performance from two young Seychellois dancers from the Conservatoire of Performing Arts, followed by dinner.
India gained its independence from the British on August 15, 1947 and since has grown to become one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, positioning itself as the sixth largest economy currently valued at US $2.7 trillion.
