Seychellois ambassadors meet President Ramkalawan |25 October 2022

The ambassadors in a souvenir photograph with President Ramkalawan, Vice-President Afif and Minister Radegonde (Photo: Joena Meme)

• Harnessing opportunities through diplomatic relations

To start off their annual retreat, the Seychellois ambassadors/heads of mission met with the head of state Wavel Ramkalawan for more than two and a half hours yesterday at State House.

This is the first meeting between the ambassadors and President Ramkalawan since his election.

The meeting focused mainly on ‘harnessing opportunities through diplomatic relations’.

The Dean of Seychellois ambassadors, Claude Morel, who is serving as high commissioner of the Republic of Seychelles in Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, noted that “we are here for a retreat of ambassadors which is also related to the upcoming biennial honorary consuls’ conference this week. We will discuss how we will use our diplomatic position to look for better opportunities for Seychelles. We are the representatives of the President outside Seychelles and he is the architect of diplomacy, one who guides and gives direction through the Minister for Foreign Affairs”.

Ambassador Morel explained that diplomacy is dynamic and together they are looking on how best they can serve the country. Each ambassador’s responsibility is different and they need to make a synthesis of what our role/job entails.

The retreat of the ambassadors started yesterday morning and will last until today at the Eden Bleu Hotel.

This will be followed by the department’s biennial honorary consuls’ conference at the Savoy Resort & Spa from Wednesday October 26 to Friday October 28.

This year's edition, the first to be held physically since the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the ambassadors and consuls will discuss how to explore opportunities to bring additional benefits in various areas of national importance to Seychelles.

These discussions will include presentations from various sectors, such as blue economy, tourism and aquaculture development, among others.

“On Thursday October 27, in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs, the honorary consuls will also get the opportunity to visit the 26 districts of the three main islands and engage in discussions with the district authorities. The aim of this exercise is to invite the consuls to “adopt a district”. The visit will also enable them to understand the needs of the communities and create a partnership with their adopted districts. This will help us create a network and bring diplomacy to the grassroots. We are a small country and we have only nine diplomatic missions and we have to work with the network of consulars,” explained Ambassador Morel.

On Friday October 28, the final day of the conference, the consuls will be able to deliberate on their district visits and also provide their feedback on the various presentations and ways forward from the group discussions. A plan of work will also be derived for the next two years.

Has the direction changed in our diplomatic missions? Ambassador Morel stated that “it is natural when there is a new government and since the arrival of Minister Radegonde there has been an adjustment. We had to evaluate each mission and see how best to utilise our resources”.

In attendance at the meeting were Vice-President Ahmed Afif; Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde; principal secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Vivianne Fock Tave; Ambassador of the Republic of Seychelles in Delhi (Republic of India), Selby Pillay; Ambassador of the Republic of Seychelles in Brussels (Kingdom of Belgium), Beryl Samson; Ambassador of the Republic of Seychelles in Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), Jean-Claude Adrienne; Ambassador of the Republic of Seychelles in Addis Ababa (Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia), Conrad Mederic; Ambassador of the Republic of Seychelles based at headquarters Lalatiana Accouche; Ambassador of the Republic of Seychelles in Beijing (People’s Republic of China), Anne Lafortune; Ambassador/Permanent Representative of the Republic of Seychelles to the United Nations, New York (United States of America), Ian Madeleine; chargé d’affaires a.i. in the embassy of the Republic of Seychelles, Paris (Republic of France), Jacques Belle and the Ag. High Commissioner in the High Commission of the Republic of Seychelles in London (United Kingdom), Patsy Moustache.

Vidya Gappy