New Rwandan HC Fatou Harerimana accredited to Seychelles |21 February 2024

Fatou Harerimana, the new High Commissioner of Rwanda to Seychelles, presenting her credentials to President Ramkalawan (Photo: Joena Meme)

Plans to focus on implementation of MoUs signed

Fatou Harerimana is the new High Commissioner of Rwanda to Seychelles. She officially presented her credentials to President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday morning at State House.

The President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, was on a state visit to Seychelles last year, marking a significant diplomatic exchange. Since then, several memorandums of understanding (MoU) have been signed, contributing towards the strengthening of ties between the two nations. Amongst these agreements, was the mutual waiver of visas for travelers from both countries.

“We discussed the strong bilateral cooperation between the two countries. When our president was here, many things were discussed and now we spoke about the way forward on how to implement those MoUs,” said the newly accredited high commissioner.

“Memorandums have been signed to foster collaboration in health, agriculture, tourism, investment, defence, and security. We also waived the visa requirement for both nationalities, allowing Rwandese to enjoy coming to Seychelles without visa and vice versa,” shared the new high commissioner proudly.

During her four-year tenure as high commissioner, Ms Harerimana intends to focus on the development of all sectors. “Seychelles is highly successful in tourism and in Rwanda we are only beginning to invest in tourism. We hope you could also help Rwanda in building up our tourism sector,” said High Commissioner Harerimana.

For his part, President Ramkalawan congratulated the new high commissioner and underlined that her accreditation reflects the strong commitment between Seychelles and Rwanda to further cement their bilateral relations and elevate cooperation to new heights.

Also present at the accreditation ceremony yesterday morning was the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism Sylvestre Radegonde; principal secretary for foreign affairs, Ambassador Vivienne Fock-Tave; director general bilateral affairs division within the department of foreign affairs, Lindy Ernesta; and second secretary in the same department, Ingrid Labrosse.

In her capacity as new HC, Ms Harerimana also engaged with Vice-President Ahmed Afif, Speaker of the National Assembly Roger Mancienne, ministers, and members of the diplomatic corps, affirming Rwanda's commitment to strengthening bilateral ties with Seychelles.

Ms Harerimana is the fifth Rwandan high commissioner to be accredited to Seychelles and she will be based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. She replaces Maj. Gen. Charles Karamba who was accredited to Seychelles on April 27, 2021. Rwanda and Seychelles established diplomatic relations on October 5, 2010.

Vidya Gappy