Follow us on:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube

Archive - Archive 2004 - July 2013

Israel hails our beach access policy |10 June 2009

Israel hails our beach access policy

As his country celebrates the 61st anniversary of its independence, he said Israel can learn Mr Keidarsuch things, as well as environment conservation, from us.

“We are very impressed that you have laws ensuring people do not build on beaches and that the public can have access, which is not the case in our country. We have a lot to learn from you in this regard,” he said.

“We have a long coastline along the Mediterranean sea, but unfortunately we give some parts of the beach to some enterprises and hotels thus blocking public access to the beaches, and this should not happen.

“We have to learn from you, not only about the beach but also about the environment.”
The State of Israel was founded in May 1948, and Mr Keidar has been organising anniversary celebrations in the countries he represents.

They started with exhibitions in Kenya, where he is based, and then moved to Uganda and Tanzania. The display for Seychelles opened at the National Library yesterday evening and should be followed by others in Malawi and Zambia.

Celebrations in the region to mark the foundation of the State of Israel were previously held only in Kenya.
“The exhibition, which will remain open until Thursday, shows more than 50 years of our activities especially through our Agency for International Cooperation, which is an aid agency part of our government,” said Mr Keidar.

“I am proud many people in Seychelles have taken advantage of what it offers and have either gone to Israel for training or were trained by our experts here.”

He added that most of the training given by Israel has been in agriculture and health, as well as in community development issues “in which Israel has some expertise”.

Mr Keidar said several hundred Seychellois have so far been trained in Israel, including some Hebrew-speaking medics who examined him at Victoria hospital when he sprained an ankle here last year.

He said part of the celebrations here are intended to allow Israelis to meet more Seychellois so they can explore further areas of cooperation and business links.

There are two Israelis based here, but Mr Keidar said many tourists have been coming from his country by chartered flights. These are not operating at the moment due to the global economic crisis, but he said he hopes they will resume soon.

He described relations between the two countries as very friendly, and an existing community development training programme will be expanded to cover more fields such as micro-financing for small enterprises, organic farming, horticulture, local authority and tourism issues.

“The programme mainly entails identifying what economic enterprises are suitable for the community with a view to developing them in a holistic manner, covering everything from launching to marketing,” he said.

“It involves picking project leaders from the communities and giving them the tools, including the necessary micro-financing.”

Victoria and the Israeli city of Daliat El Carmel have twinning agreements, Mr Keidar added.

» Back to Archive