Outgoing UN resident coordinator praises Seychelles’ achievements |12 October 2022

Mrs Umutoni in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

• Announces new cooperation framework aligned to the country’s new direction

The outgoing United Nations resident coordinator to Seychelles and Mauritius, Christine Umutoni, said she is taking away many good lessons from Seychelles and has praised the country for its achievements and resilience during and after the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mrs Umutoni paid a farewell visit on President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House yesterday morning after the end of her tenure.

She said one good lesson she leaves with and which is closest to her heart was how Seychelles managed a peaceful election and a peaceful transfer of power in 2020, and how the country has been stable since, which is a good example for Africa.

Mrs Umutoni also praised Seychelles for the way it handled the Covid-19 pandemic and its resilience throughout and after.

“Another good lesson is how the country managed Covid-19. I was here when Covid hit, how everything closed and we almost lost hope but how everything turned around and now I almost didn’t have a room to stay because tourism is back, the economy is back,” she said.

The outgoing UN resident coordinator has also applauded the growing partnership between Seychelles and the UN, and the implementation of a partnership framework.

“We’ve seen growing partnership but the country also has achieved a lot in many areas including climate change, the social sector. We know there are many challenges coming including the oil and food crisis but the same energy the country used to deal with the other challenges, we feel is the same energy.”

Mrs Umutoni also praised Seychelles for its leadership among the small island developing states (Sids) and for promoting the voice of those islands.

“Sids put together form a very strong voice as every voice counts. For those islands to come together to talk about issues related to the blue economy, and development was a very good initiative and heart-warming,” she said.

Mrs Umutoni said the UN will now be developing a new cooperation framework from the policy dialogue it had in May in Seychelles with the government “and this will be aligned to the country’s new direction”, adding that the UN cooperation framework “will always be on the environment, sustainability resilience, the social sector, education and health but also the economy especially expanding on the blue economy”.

She said she was leaving the country with a very warm heart for having witnessed these collaborations and achievements and from learning a lot from Seychelles.

Christine Umutoni has been the United Nations resident coordinator to Seychelles since January 2018.

Patsy Canaya