President cancels visit to India |30 January 2013

The President was also expected to attend the presentation of the Dornier Do-228 aircraft from the Government of India to Seychelles and to meet India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pranab Mukherjee.

“Due to the humanitarian crisis following the flooding disaster of this week, I will not be able to attend the engagements in India, in order to be with my people at this crucial moment. There is much work that needs to be done, and we need to mobilise all necessary resources to address the needs of the people,” said the President.

The President will send a message to the Summit to highlight the issues concerning sustainable development and small island states.

Mr Michel will be represented at the Summit and at the Dornier hand-over ceremony by the Minister for Foreign Affairs Jean-Paul Adam. The Minister for Environment and Energy, Professor Rolph Payet, has also cancelled his attendance at the Summit, due to his duties as the chairman of the National Risk and Disaster Management Committee.

The 13th Delhi Sustainable Development Summit will take place this week under the theme ‘The Global Challenge of Resource Efficient Growth and Development,’ organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (Teri) in New Delhi.

President Michel attended the summit in 2011 and 2012.