Annual ambassadors’ retreat ends on a high note |21 December 2019

The ambassadors in a souvenir photograph with Vice-President Meriton and Dr Marina Confait, principal secretary for foreign affairs (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

The 2019 ambassador’s retreat came to an end yesterday afternoon in a short ceremony at the Savoy Resort & Spa.

The week-long retreat, which was officially launched by Vice-President Vincent Meriton at Maison Quéau de Quinssy on Monday under the theme ‘Connect & Engage’, focused on the challenges that Seychelles face as an island nation and also present the opportunity through engagements to define national priorities and strategic objectives in shaping the country’s foreign policy.

In his address to the ambassadors Vice-President Meriton, who is also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, noted that the ambassadors had the chance to meet with a number of stakeholders from Financers, to attorney general’s office, trade education, Blue economy, Nisti, Apdar and so on.

“We have been able to connect and engage and therefore this retreat has been a success. We now need to ensure that we keep this momentum of being connected and engaged with capital and the national entities moving forward as we work on strengthening our foreign policy,” said the vice-president.

He added that the discussion has involved ideas on enhancing cooperation with regional organisations such as the African Union and its various bodies, the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States and the European Union.

The vice-president also noted that Seychelles was recently graded by the UNDP in the very high category in the human development index among other accolades.

He remarked that these accomplishments have been recorded due to a shared vision of key people.

The Seychelles ambassadors’ retreat 2019 saw the participation of 10 ambassadors and 1 chargé d’affaires. Ambassador Sylvestre Radegonde (the Dean), Ambassador Dick Esparon, Ambassador Vivianne Fock-Tave, High Commissioner Selby Pillay, High Commissioner Derick Ally, High Commissioner Marie-Antoinette Rose Quatre, Ambassador David Pierre, Ambassador Jean-Claude Adrienne, Ambassador Lalatiana Accouche, Honourable Ambassador Patrick Victor and chargé d’affaires Gayathri Pillay.

Ambassador Radegonde noted that this retreat was a chance for ambassadors to discuss their achievements throughout the year with the president and the minister for foreign affairs.

“In 2020 we will put climate change at the forefront of our project with our international partners that we work with,” the ambassador noted.

He remarked that Seychelles is considered a high developing country but as a small island state we are still vulnerable and we will still need assistance form international entities in the form of technical support.

He continued by saying that “this year we got a chance to interact with the various organisation that we work with such as the ministry of finance, we also got a chance to meet with the international affairs committee of the National Assembly as we have noted that it’s not only the National Assembly that is unaware of the role of an ambassador but also the general public”.

Christophe Zialor