07.22.08
Posted in Seychelles government at 11:02 pm by Robert Klien
A population action plan for the next 4 years for Seychelles to develop in a sustainable way was launched on July 10, 2008.
The population action plan 2008-2012 was launched after a 1-day seminar at the International Conference Centre that was organised by the Social Policy Division in the Ministry of Health and Social Development.
The action plan is focused on the need for people to act responsibly when exercising their right to plan the family. This will give Seychelles an opportunity to keep up its achievements.
It should be noted that launching the plan marks annual World Population Day.
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07.15.08
Posted in Business and Economy, International relations at 12:15 pm by Robert Klien
On July 9-10, 2008, the 8th Session of the Seychelles-Mauritius Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (CBC) took place at the Government House, Port Louis, in Mauritius.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Seychelles Patrick Pillay was heading a 4-strong delegation.
The members of the 2 delegations held the meeeting in order to review the cooperation programme and discuss new avenues for future partnership between Seychelles and Mauritius. The issues under discussion were also regional matters sch as the Economic Partnership Agreement, COMESA Fund, Aid for Trade and the Regional Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence – all these are the issues vitallyl important to the both Seychelles and Mauritius.
It is worth noting that the Commission on Bilateral Cooperation was established after the Agreement of Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between Seychelles and Mauritius was signed in February 1991.
The CBC takes place in the capital of one of the two countries once in 2 years. The 7th Session of the Seychelles-Mauritius Commission on Bilateral Cooperation was held in Seychelles in December 2005.
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07.09.08
Posted in Business and Economy, International Organisations, Seychelles offshore jurisdiction at 12:53 pm by Robert Klien
In the end of June, the Minister for Finance Danny Faure said that Seychelles has officially started the process of debt rescheduling. This process aims at rescheduling and partly writing off its bilateral debt.
Details of recent approaches by the government to the Paris Club, an international grouping of financial officials from 19 of the richest countries in the world, over the Seychelles’ debt, were given to the National Assembly by Minister Danny Faure. The debt now stands at R1.15 billion.
According to Mr Faure, the money borrowed over the years through Seychelles’ bilateral relations with countries such as the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Russia has been invested in the socio-economic development of the Seychelles.
Faure said that the President, the minister of finance, the minister of foreign affairs and other government officials have contacted institutions like the African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank in order to rally support for negotiation on Seychelles’ debt.
Mr Faure said that the Paris Club wants to move forward with the debt issue, but it needs an indication that the jurisdiction wants to negotiate a programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The Minister also stressed that the country already enjoys good relations with the IMF. So, the process has already begun.
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07.01.08
Posted in Seychelles government, Business and Economy, International relations at 3:12 pm by Robert Klien
It has been described that Seychelles and Japan signed a grant aid agreement for fisheries on June 24, 2008. The same day, the Japanese ambassador to Seychelles, Shigeo Iwatani, who signed the agreement, paid a visit to President James Michel at State House.
Mr Iwatani discussed with the Seychellois President several issues that will boost the relationship between the Japan and Seychelles.
It is worth noting that President Michel gave feedback on his visit to Japan, which was on May 28-30 when he attended the 4th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad IV).
Michel and Iwatani also discussed another visit by the President to Japan. Mr Iwatani said that they are arranging a date for the visit. This time the visit will be used for talks on bilateral issues.
The discussion by Michel and Iwatani covered the 5-year action plan to identify concrete cooperation projects between Seychelles and Japan.
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06.25.08
Posted in Business and Economy, International relations at 9:32 am by Robert Klien
Yesterday, on June 24, 2008, a grant aid agreement for fisheries was signed between Seychelles and Japan. The agreement was described as “milestone” in the relations of the two countries.
The agreement was signed at Independence House by Minister for Environment, Natural Resources and Transport Joel Morgan from Seychelles side and by the Japanese ambassador to Seychelles, Shigeo Iwatani from Japanese side.
The agreement covers R83 million of aid from Japan. The funding will be used for building a new fishing quay at Providence and for improving the Bel Ombre fishing port. This project is in line with the 2017 fisheries strategy, and it is very important in the development of fishing industry in Seychelles.
The Japanese government is financing 5 fisheries projects worth more than R80 million,. It should be noted that Japan has already been supportive of Seychelles’s fishing industry, which had a positive impact on the industry’s development.
According to Mr. Morgan, the fishing industry is the 2nd most important sector for income generation, food security and employment.
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06.15.08
Posted in Financial Services, Business and Economy, Seychelles banking at 6:19 pm by Robert Klien
In order to increase investment flexibility, the Central Bank of Seychelles has announced the introduction of a new service.
The new service allows to sell and buy government-issued bonds. Those who hold government bonds will now be able to sell these bonds to the Central Bank of Seychelles before the bonds reach their maturity. This will allow them to access funds that would have been tied up otherwise. Then, the bonds bought by the Central Bank of Seychelles will be sold to people.
According to Central Bank governor Francis Chang Leng, before this new initiative has been launched people holding bonds faced the difficult prospect of trying to find a buyer if they wished to sell the bonds. This difficulty even increased if they wanted to sell large amounts of bonds. “The introduction of the Central Bank secondary market for bonds offers a fast, efficient and guaranteed market for people wishing to sell bonds and an easy access point for people who wish to use an investment in government bonds as an alternative to saving their money in the bank.”
Bond holders who intend to use the new service will have to visit the Central Bank of Seychelles, where they will be able to cash either in the full value of their bonds or a percentage of them.
The Central Bank will charge an administrative fee of 0.25% on the face value of the bonds in order to finance the new service.
As a secondary market will be introduced, bond holders will be allowed to exchange their bonds for currency, which will increase their financial liquidity. Nevertheless, the overall level of liquidity will not change because the bonds will stay in circulation.
Central Bank governor Francis Chang Leng hopes that the introduction of the secondary market for bonds will increase people’s familiarity with trading in bonds and other investments, and with “providing an additional interest-earning opportunity for savers looking for the best return on their money”.
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06.09.08
Posted in Business and Economy at 11:48 am by Robert Klien
The global rise in food prices has become an alarm for consumers in Seychelles. This is what the opposition of Seychelles has claimed. However, the speaker of one of Africa’s richest nations, Patrick Herminie, has rejected an opposition call to organize an emergency session in order to address this problem.
The opposition call was the result of a recent announcement by the Seychellois government that the price of rice, the Seychellois staple meal, will increase. This increase is a result of international food prices trend, however, it comes just after the Seychellois government had devalued its currency, which made price of basic food items too high for the average family.
Finance Minister Danny Faure presented the 2008 Budget that introduced excessive increases in the price of water, electricity and many other necessities.
It should be noted that the opposition has taken the speaker’s rejection as insensitive rejecting of important issues of the country, while the population becomes more vulnerable to price increases.
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05.31.08
Posted in Financial Services, Offshore Services, Seychelles banking, Seychelles offshore jurisdiction at 2:09 pm by Robert Klien
According to the press release published on May 20, 2008, Bahrain-based BMI Bank appointed Frank Hoareau as the Managing Director of BMI Offshore Bank Limited, its new Offshore banking business in Seychelles.
Andrew Bainbridge, Chief Executive Officer of BMI, welcomed Frank Hoareau and noted that he brings extensive experience and knowledge of the offshore industry and banking. Bainbridge also said that the Bank is confident it will build a thriving business and capitalize on the many exciting opportunities in the Seychelles market as Seychelles is an attractive location for this venture that is supported by legal and regulatory framework and continuing economic progress.
It should be noted that Frank Hoareau is well-known in Seychelles financial circles and he is familiar with the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, where he held a senior position before joining Barclays offshore.
In March 2008, BMI received its offshore banking license and is planning to open for business in the 3rd quarter of 2008.
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05.24.08
Posted in Diplomatic missions, International relations at 7:35 pm by Robert Klien
New Ambassador of China to Seychelles Wang Weiguo arrived in Seychelles on May 16, 2008.
On May 20, New Ambassador to Seychelles Wang Weiguo presented his credentials to Seychelles President James Alex Michel in Victoria.
Michel welcomed Wang as new ambassador to Seychelles and expressed his satisfaction with the recent development of relations between Seychelles and China that are based on mutual trust and equality. The President thanked China for the assistance and the efforts made by its leaders to promote economic cooperation between Seychelles and China. He also said he awaits that the mutually beneficial cooperation will be developed in the future.
The New Ambassador recalled the development of bilateral relationship in the past years since diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in June 1976. He also said he would do his best to push the relationship between Seychelles and China towards win-win partnership.
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05.18.08
Posted in Seychelles government, International relations at 5:20 pm by Robert Klien
On May 12, 2008, it was announced that a delegation of the National Assembly of the Republic of Seychelles is going to pay a visit to China. It was also announced that the Seychellois delegation was to be led by deputy speaker Wilby Lucas.
The delegation is paying an official good-will visit to China from May 14 to May 21. The visit was ogranised at the invitation of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress of China.
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