UN resident coordinator and team pay courtesy call on President Ramkalawan |17 November 2021

Mrs Umutoni and her team in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan and the Seychelles delegation present during the call (Photo: Thomas Meriton)

The United Nations resident coordinator, Christine N. Umutoni, accompanied by UN agencies WHO – Dr Teniin Gakuruh and UNAIDS Dr Jude Padayachy and staff members of the UN resident coordinator’s office paid a courtesy call on President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House yesterday morning.

This is the first mission of Mrs Umutoni since the election of the current government.

Following her meeting with the President, Mrs Umutoni noted that “I have not been able to come to Seychelles since its election and I bring the congratulations of the UN secretariat to the country for having conducted free and fair elections and appreciates the peaceful transition. This is a very good example to emulate. We also congratulate the government for having reached a high number of vaccinated populations, ranking number one in Africa and the UN commends Seychelles for continuing to be a champion of the blue and green economy. Covid-19 has been a challenge for many countries, mainly small island states, and we are making sure such countries get the right assistance”.

The UN resident coordinator also explained that following the UN reforms in 2019, the UN resident coordinator is now fully dedicated to coordinating UN activities in the country on behalf of the UN secretary general. There are about 20 agencies implementing activities in the country.

During the pandemic, already the UN has been working with Seychelles to come up with the socio-economic response plan to Covid but “I think the most important thing for most countries is to learn to live with the virus and to understand how we continue with all the measures and at the same time continue with the development of the country,” shared Mrs Umutoni.

Mrs Umutoni also announced that during her stay she will be opening the UN resident coordinator’s liaison office which will allow for regular visits.

“We will also look into the United Nations Strategic Partnership Framework (SPF) 2019 – 2023 which was signed between the government of the Republic of Seychelles and the UN. We will look at the progress and the area of priorities and how the country is progressing in regards to the SPF and SERP implementation. We will also discuss the way forward to recover better and accelerate progress towards SDGs while considering new emerging priorities that require UN support and partnership.”

The UN resident coordinator also held meetings with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, accompanied by UN agencies WHO and UNAIDs and staff members of the UN resident coordinator’s office.  

She will also meet the Minister for Finance, Economic Planning & Trade and other ministers of key ministries, and partners.

Vidya Gappy