08.19.10
Posted in International Organisations, International relations, Seychelles government at 2:18 pm by Robert Klien
Seychelles has joined the group of countries that ratified the founding Rome statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the independent tribunal to try genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Seychelles will become its 112th member state on November 1, 2010.
In its statement, the ICC welcomed the decision of the country “to join the growing group of states determined to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes.”
The International Criminal Court is operating in The Hague since 2002. Now the court is considering cases in five countries, including Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda. Warrants have been issued by the ICC against 13 persons, most notably for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
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08.13.10
Posted in Financial Services, International Organisations, International relations, Seychelles government at 2:51 pm by Robert Klien
The Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) was signed between the Seychelles and the Netherlands. This is the first agreement of this kind for the Seychelles, but not the last one, the Seychelles government following its policy to develop Seychelles international business and financial services sector.
The Seychelles and the Netherlands have agreed to incorporate the OECD standard for such agreements into their TIEA. This will encourage tax authorities of both parties to exchange taxpayer information for specific purposes, including countering tax evasion and money laundering. Also, according to the agreement , neither tax authority can refuse to provide information solely because it does not require the information for domestic purposes, or because it is held by a bank or similar institution.
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07.29.10
Posted in International relations, Seychelles government at 12:41 pm by Robert Klien
The new Pakistani ambassador to Seychelles has said that he is looking forward to further enhance relations between Pakistan and Seychelles.
On July 13, Pakistani ambassador Muhammad Siddique presented his credentials to Seychelles’ President James Michel. Also, he met with Vice-President Danny Faure at State House. On July 14, he called on the Speaker of the National Assembly Dr Patrick Herminie.
After his accreditation visit, Siddique described the cooperation between the 2 countries as very friendly. He also said that the possibilities for further agreements on trade, tourism, education, health and fisheries were discussed during the meeting.
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07.27.10
Posted in International relations, Seychelles government at 12:29 pm by Robert Klien
With a view to further strengthen the bilateral defence ties as well as to increase cooperation in anti-piracy operations, India’s Defence Minister A K Antony visited Seychelles.
The 2-day visit day to Seychelles started on July 18.
On his visit, Indian Defence Minister was accompanied by Defence Secretary Pradeep Kumar and Navy Vice Chief Vice Admiral D K Dewan.
The Defence Minister held discussions with the Seychelles leadership on bilateral defence cooperation and implementation of the provisions of the defence cooperation Memorandum of Understanding between Seychelles and India. Also, the 2 sides discussed various security issues that included the security situation in the Indian Ocean region and the spread of piracy in and from the Gulf of Aden.
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07.19.10
Posted in International relations at 7:49 pm by Robert Klien
On July 11, 2010, members of a joint management committee from Seychelles and Mauritius had a meeting aimed to discuss the administrative aspects of the eventual sharing of an extended seabed which is part of the Mascarene Plateau.
This meeting is the 2nd of its kind. It was visited by the head of the Seychelles delegation Dr Rolph Payet and the head of the Mauritian delegation Suresh Seeballuck.
Seychelles and Mauritius prepared to present their defence in August 2010 to the United Nations Commission for the joint management of this 400 000 km squares extended continental shelf (ECS).
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07.13.10
Posted in International Organisations, International relations, Seychelles government at 10:54 am by Robert Klien
On July 5, a delegation from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) met Vice-President and Minister for Finance and Trade Danny Faure and other high government officials.
On July 6, the WTO delegation held talks with Seychelles’ President James Michel at State House.
On July 7, the delegation met assembly speaker Dr Patrick Herminie and members of its international affairs committee.
The WTO delegation was headed by Hilda Al-Hinai, the chairperson of Seychelles’ WTO accession working party and Oman’s deputy ambassador at the world trade body. She came to have discussions with various stakeholders. The delegation was accompanied by Seychelles’ ambassador to the European Union Vivianne Fock-Tave and our chief negotiator for the WTO accession, Charles Morin.
Ms Al-Hinai said that the talks have shown a very high level of commitment from the government of Seychelles towards its accession to the WTO, and she believes that this will move things forward.
It is worth mentioning that the jurisdiction restarted the process of joining the WTO in 2008.
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07.09.10
Posted in International relations, Seychelles government at 10:53 am by Robert Klien
On July 6, Seychelles’ President James Michel met Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna in order to hold talks on bilateral cooperation over security and economic development.
After the meeting that was held during Mr Krishna’s 1-day working visit to Seychelles, Mr Michel said that it was a good opportunity to discuss Seychelles’ and India’s shared security interests in the Indian Ocean, particularly the joint military efforts and cooperation in anti-piracy. Michel added that India had provided invaluable support in this spheres, and the two countries will co-operate to continue building a sound programme of collaboration.
Indian minister assured Seychelles’ president of India’s full support for the jurisdiction in the anti-piracy effort. Mr Krishna noted that further steps will be taken with a view to strengthen the partnership.
Mr Michel said that his successful state visit to India held in June had renewed the interest of Seychellois people in travelling to India and doing business there. The visit by Mr Krishna is an indication of the active partnership of the 2 countries.
After talks between Mr Michel and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held in New Delhi during the visit in June, India pledged USD 5 million worth of defence aid to Seychelles for the anti-piracy effort.
It was announced by India that it would write off 45% of Seychelles’ debt owed to the Indian government as well as reschedule the rest over a 20-year period with the interest rates halved, which is part of the “Paris Club formula” approach. Also, the government of India will also write off a USD 1.375 million debt that Seychelles owes on a commercial loan with the Exim Bank (Export Import) of India.
India has pledged to the Development Bank of Seychelles a USD 10 million line of credit on concessionary terms. This was discussed during the 7th Indo-Seychelles Commission meeting that took place in May. It should be noted that a bilateral investment protection and promotion agreement was signed then.
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06.22.10
Posted in International relations at 3:41 pm by Robert Klien
It was discussed previously that Russian ambassador Mikhail Kalinin was talking at a reception held to mark Russian National Day.
At the event, Kalinin said that Russia is to support Seychelles’ battle against piracy and that it will send a warship to the region this year. According to him, “Russia contributes actively to the international fight against piracy that severely affects the security and economic situation in Seychelles, which is on the front line of this fight”.
Kalinin noted that Russia has proposed to set up an international judicial body in the region where pirates can be prosecuted, which would easen the burden of the coastal states and ensuring pirates do not escape justice.
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06.17.10
Posted in Diplomatic missions, International relations, Seychelles government, Tourism industry at 6:48 pm by Robert Klien
On May 15, during a reception held at the Coral Strand Hotel, ambassador of Russia Mikhail Kalinin said that Russian investment in Seychelles is growing rapidly. The reception was held to mark Russia’s National Day.
Mr Kalinin said that Russian investment in Seychelles’ tourism industry now tops USD 250 million. He also added that the government of Russia has approved 2 more hotels to be built by Russian investment companies. He also said that Russian businessmen are investing in the preservation of Seychellois sites of environmental, cultural and historical value.
Mr Kalinin said that there are much more opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation and they are to be explored. He called on Seychellois businessmen to establish direct links with their Russian counterparts who might offer many interesting projects important for the Seychellois economy.
According to the ambassador, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and President James Michel regularly communicate and exchange messages on different issues, and Russia and Seychelles hold identical or similar positions on the major international matters.
Mikhail Kalinin said that Seychelles is becoming more and more popular among Russian tourists. Visitors from Russia now hold 4th place among tourists in Seychelles with more than 8 500 arrivals in 2009.
Kalinin welcomed the graduates of the Soviet/Russian institutes present at the ceremony. One of them was Minister for Community Development, Youth, Sports and Culture Vincent Meriton, who read President James Michel’s message. The message said: “Seychelles and the Russian Federation have a long history of cooperation and I would like, on behalf of the government of Seychelles, to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation for all the forms of help provided, particularly in the fields of education, sports, culture and health. We hope that we will be able to benefit from similar offers in the future,” said Mr Michel in his message.
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05.20.10
Posted in International Organisations, International relations, Seychelles government at 2:28 pm by Robert Klien
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economy of Seychelles has shown strong resilience to global financial shocks of the year 2009. The IMF said that the jurisdiction’s economy is recovering faster than expected from measures taken to adjust it.
The above-mentioned conclusions are the key findings of an International Monetary Fund mission in Seychelles since May 4. The IMF has already completed mission’s 1st review under the Extended Fund Facility. The mission is headed by Jean Le Dem.
The success of the review of the mission was announced during a press conference that was held at the Central Bank on May 17. The conference was attended by Minister for Finance Danny Faure, his principal secretary Ahmed Afif and the head of division, policy, market operations and statistics Caroline Abel.
Mr Le Dem described the discussions as successful. He said that all quantitative performance criteria as of the end of March 2010 have been met and structural measures programmed to end in April 2010 have been carried out, as well as policies for the rest of the year 2010 have been agreed with the government.
In his statement, Le Dem highlighted some of the findings of the IMF mission:
- the macro-economic situation has improved; the economy has shown strong resilience and flexibility to the shocks in 2009 and is recovering more quickly than initially expected from adjustment policies;
- economic activities have been maintained overall in 2009, notably in the tourism sector, due to an aggressive price policy which has made it possible to maintain hotel occupancy rates and employment in that sector;
- the exchange rate has stabilised on average against the main currencies since the beginning of the year 2010 and the external position is strengthening, with international reserves already covering 2 months of imports.
Le Dem also stated that the assessment of government revenue projections for 2010 that was discussed during the mission provides room for a more rapid path towards fiscal sustainability. Seychelles’ monetary policy has been loosened, while key interest rates like treasury bill rates have been reduced to lower levels. Measures to promote private sector development have been good, especially on tax reforms, public finance management, reorganisation of Central Bank operations, financial sector supervision and public enterprise reform.
He stressed the 2 major areas that are crucial to the reform programme - the tax system and private sector development.
The 2nd review mission is expected in October 2010.
Seychelles’ Minister for Finance Danny Faure suggested that the mission’s findings are encouraging and are good for our reform programme. He expressed his hopes that this will result in the last stage of debt cancellation.
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