The permanent secretary of the Cyprus Planning Bureau, Andreas Moleskis, led his delegation August 19 until August 22 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It should be noted that Seychelles and Cyprus enjoyed historical ties long before the opening of diplomatic relations in April 1976.

It is important that in 1998 an agreement on long-term economic, scientific, technical and industrial cooperation was signed in 1998 to set a framework and become the 1st step towards formalising the connections between Seychelles and Cyprus. This document provided for the establishment of the Cypriot-Seychelles commission, which will explore new areas of bilateral cooperation through regular consultations.

In June 28, 2006, Seychelles and Cyprus signed a double taxation avoidance agreement.

The meeting held from August 19 until August 22 was aimed at exploiting all opportunities for new partnerships between Seychelles and Cyprus, and it will raise regional and international issues of vital importance to both countries.

According to the official results from the Seychellois election commission, Democratic Party candidate Frank Elizabeth who is also from an opposition party got 12% of votes.

Voters had been urged by the ruling party, Seychelles People’s Progressive Front (SPPF), to boycott the poll. (SPPF) and former President Albert Rene had no candidate for election and called the by-election a farce and a waste of time. Mr Rene had asked voters from Mont Fleuri constituency not to participate at the by-election and rather use the election day for shopping.

BMI Offshore Bank is a joint venture between Bahrain-based BMI Bank and Seychelles-incorporated Nouvobanq. Managed by BMI Bank, the venture will deal with offshore banking and private banking services and provide access to trust and investment services for corporate and private customers who reside abroad.

To celebrate the launch, a special ceremony was held. The event was attended by Government officials, key businessmen related to the offshore industry, Chief Executive Officer of BMI Bank Andrew Bainbridge, Wholesale Banking Director of BMI Bank Karl Stumke and other bank representatives, media and guests.

Chief Executive Officer of BMI Bank, Andrew Bainbridge, said that the launch of the first offshore bank in the Seychelles is an important move. BMI Bank was established with a vision to form a universal bank with presence in selected emerging markets and this move is the way to achieve it. He also said that BMIO will be supported by the head office in Bahrain in order to run a successful banking operation in Seychelles.

Initially, BMI Offshore Bank will offer deposits and investments on varying terms, transactional banking from current and call accounts, and internet banking facilities. Then, new products including Debit and Credit cards, loan financing, trust business and a range of other investment products will be introduced.

A license to operate was received by BMIO from the Central Bank of Seychelles in March 2008.

The Seychelles delegation was led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Pillay, while the Mauritian delegation was represented by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Rama Sithanen.

The two countries have agreed that they will cooperate in the following areas:

- Regional Cooperation. Regarding aid for Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement, Seychelles and Mauritius have agreed to facilitate a strategic partnership between the two sides by the networks the countries are building, including the EPA with the EU and membership in both COMESA and SADC;

- COMESA Fund. Mauritius invited Seychelles to join the COMESA Fund in order to build a strategic relationship between the two sides, as well as to benefit from regionalisation and globalisation initiatives underway;

- Regional Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence. Seychelles requested the support of Mauritius to set up a University in Seychelles;

- Cooperation in the fisheries sector. Seychelles and Mauritius have agreed to urgently examine the impact of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations as well as the bilateral negotiations between the EU and the ASEAN countries.

It is also worth mentioning that Seychelles Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Pillay underscored the fruitful exchange programmes in banking, education, social development, tourism and fisheries between Seychelles and Mauritius.

The redraft has been undertaken with a view to enable companies working in the financial services sector to offer services to mutual funds investors, which combine the assets of many investors in order to create larger funds for investment in stock exchanges and money markets as well as other investment opportunities.

The original legislation came into force in 1997. This was the beginning of mutual funds development.

The global mutual funds industry was estimated to be worth USD 26.2 trillion by the end of 2007. The industry has surpassed any other offshore business structure. It is growing at an average of 1 trillion USD per year.

It is also worth noting that the newly drafted legislation is aimed at bolstering banking and legal services for mutual fund operations.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.