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Chinese Union Pay card holders to benefit through new accord |04 November 2013


Chinese visitors to Seychelles can now better enjoy their holiday and travel experience as they will soon be able to pay for any goods and services using their Union Pay cards.

This will be possible now that China Union Pay International has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture giving commercial banks the green light to accept payments from these cards.

Established in March 2002, Union Pay is a bankcard association established under the approval of the State Council and the People’s Bank of China. It has its headquarters in Shanghai. In order to meet the growing demands for card use of Chinese in overseas business, travel and study, and to extend the services of domestic commercial banks abroad via Union Pay network, Union Pay is dedicated to the construction of an international acceptance network.

The MoU was signed on behalf of Union Pay by its chief branding officer Dong Li while the principal secretary for tourism Anne Lafortune signed on behalf of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The signing ceremony took place at the National Cultural Centre on Thursday afternoon in the presence of Culture and Tourism Minister Alain St Ange, officials from his ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chinese ambassador to Seychelles Shi Zhongjun members of Mr Dong’s delegation who included the Vice-Mayor of Shanghai Tu Guang Shaon as well as the managing directors and representatives of various commercial banks in the country.

Addressing everyone present before the signing Minister St Ange who had previously held preliminary talks with the delegation from Union Pay said it was encouraging to see how immense the areas of cooperation between Seychelles and China can be.

“Your delegation brings important components to what us here in Seychelles are looking for in areas of cooperation and these include fisheries and tourism.  The Union Pay which is now here will help us consolidate cooperation not only in Seychelles but in China  and how we are positioning ourselves in this big potential tourism market for Seychelles,” said Minister St Ange.

“Through Union Pay International it is our hope that it will open the gateway for potential travel from China and from then on I am sure you will find partnership in Seychelles to help you consolidate your presence here and to make Chinese visitors to our country feel at home,” added Minister St Ange.

Following the talks he has had with the delegation, Minister St Ange announced that the latter has confirmed that Shanghai will play a part in the Seychelles China Day to take place here on January 31, 2014 and that China through Shanghai will look at having a formal representation in next year’s carnival.

For his part Mr Dong said through an interpreter that the agreement is only the start of a new phase of cooperation between China Union Pay International and the Seychelles Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

“Since 2010 the number of Chinese tourists to Seychelles has been doubling every year. In May this year at the international travel fair held in Shanghai, Seychelles was nominated the best honeymoon destination for 2013,” he said.

He said the Union Pay is committed to providing good service to credit card and bank card holders in the world.

“So far we have about 800,000 million card holders and our services have gone beyond mainland China to cover 142 countries in the world,” he pointed out.

Mr Dong said the Union Pay is currently making its services known through financial institutions throughout Africa so that its card holders as well as the local people could enjoy its diversified payment services.

He said that so far the Union Pay has services in some 40 countries of the region.

Mr Dong said he is very happy for this partnership with Seychelles which he said will no doubt help further promote Seychelles’ natural beauty and rich history to Chinese citizens and more marketing campaigns will be held to entice Chinese card holders to holiday in Seychelles.  

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