74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly |28 September 2019
President Faure with Mr Waitt
President Faure meets founder and chair of Waitt Foundation and Waitt Institute
President Danny Faure on Thursday met Ted Waitt, the founder and chairman of the Waitt Foundation and Waitt Institute, while in New York participating in the 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The meeting was an opportunity for President Faure to formally express the appreciation of the government and people of Seychelles for the various contributions made by the Waitt Foundation and Waitt Institute particularly towards the successful implementation of the Seychelles Debt swap.
“Together with the blue bonds, the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCATT), which manages the proceeds of the debt swap, is now offering around USD750,000 in grants a year to Seychellois citizens for sustainable marine activities. These include youth, women and scientists,” said President Faure.
The President also expressed the country’s gratitude to the Waitt Foundation for having financially supported the National Geographic Society’s Pristine Seas Expedition to its southern waters in 2015.
“The expedition helped provide the Seychelles government with scientific justification for increasing the protected area around Aldabra as part of the 30% of marine protected areas under the debt swap,” added President Faure.
On his part, Mr Waitt accompanied by the executive director Heather Zichal of the Blue Prosperity Coalition, an initiave of the Waitt Foundation, thanked the President for his commitment to raising greater awareness of Ocean protection and Blue Economy matters not only locally, but also at both regional and global levels; and for being a voice for island states by spearheading efforts leading to boosting ocean health, resilience, sustainability and climate action in line with marine protection.
Following discussions revolved around widening areas of partnership between Seychelles and the Waitt Foundation through the possibility of further supporting Seychelles with a comprehensive Blue Economy strategy.