New Danish ambassador, Sri Lankan HC accredited |21 April 2021

Ambassador Thonke (photo left) and HC Wickramasinghe present their credentials to President Ramkalawan (Photo: Joena Meme)

The new Danish ambassador and Sri Lankan high commissioner to Seychelles presented their credentials to President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday at State House.

Both diplomats also called on Vice-President Ahmed Afif after their accreditation.

First to present his credential was the new Sri Lankan high commissioner, Srimal Wickramasinghe.

The high commissioner told the press afterwards that in his discussions with the head of state they talked about the bilateral ties that have existed between the two island nations for over thirty three years.

“I had a very fruitful discussion with both the president and vice- president and we will be setting up a programme that will further develop this relationship,” he said.

The main point of discussion centred around education especially on the medical programme from Sri Lanka.

He added that he will carry on relevant projects that his predecessor started, but new projects will be discussed in the future and relevant agencies will be introduced to each other.

Mr Wickramasinghe will carry out his two-year mandate at the Sri Lankan high commission in Victoria.

Ambassador Ole Thonke from Denmark was the second diplomat to present his credentials.

Mr Thonke noted that the point of discussion centred around the global Covid crisis.

“We are nearing the end of the pandemic and Seychelles has now started opening up its borders similarly to Denmark. What we hoped and what we discussed was that soon we would see an inflow of tourists from Denmark coming to Seychelles,” he said.

The ambassador added that they also discussed some issues that Denmark and Seychelles share.

He noted that they talked about maritime security as Denmark and Seychelles collaborated very closely when the piracy issue was a problem in the region.

They also discussed climate change which he said will come back on the agenda on a global level as soon as we get to the other side of the Covid pandemic.

“We also discussed human rights and democratic values which is under pressure right now. We see issues such as rape, teenage pregnancy, domestic violence rising in many countries and it has become an issue that we need to tackle. Denmark and Seychelles see eye to eye regarding this and we hope to collaborate as a collateral force and bring this issue to the UN,” said the ambassador.

As of now the ambassador noted that he does not have any specific projects in store but they have discussed areas where Denmark can help in projects such as green technology and sustainable development as Denmark is world leading in renewable energy.

Ambassador Thonke will be based in Nairobi but noted that he will travel back and forth.

Christophe Zialor