New ambassador discusses Norwegian tourists’ return to Seychelles |12 October 2022

Ambassador Holm presents his credentials to President Ramkalawan (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

The newly accredited Norwegian ambassador to Seychelles, Gunnar Andres Holm, said the two countries will explore ways to attract Norwegian tourists to the island state, following a decline after the Covid-19 pandemic.

He was speaking to local media after presenting his credentials to President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House yesterday morning.

Mr Holm said Norwegian tourists were coming to Seychelles in numbers prior to the pandemic and he hopes this will resume during his tenure.

“They used to be quite a considerable group and then Covid struck and I really hope we would see more people coming back to discover this beautiful country,” he said.

President Ramkalawan and Ambassador Holm also discussed climate change, and how the two countries could work together to fight plastic pollution.

Another area of discussion was cooperation with regard to ocean-related issues.

“We also discussed possible cooperation on sustainable ocean economy as we are two countries having very close links to the sea and living off the sea. We see we can grow our ocean economy where it comes to fisheries,” said Ambassador Holm.

He added the two countries, although far away, have a lot in common especially on global issues, and they could use this to their advantage during discussions on the international arena, be it at the United Nations or other multilateral fora.

Mr Holm, who was undertaking his first ever visit to Seychelles, also called on Vice-President Ahmed Afif yesterday morning.

He also held talks with other high government officials throughout the day, namely the Designated Minister, Jean-François Ferrari; the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde; the Minister for Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry, Devika Vidot; as well as the secretary of state for National Planning and Trade, Patrick Payet.

Ambassador Holm replaces Elin Bergithe Rognlie, who was accredited in 2019.

Seychelles and Norway established diplomatic relations in March 1993 and the new ambassador will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Patsy Canaya