Mancham to take part in annual conference of Club de Madrid |23 November 2013

Former President James R. Mancham will be leaving Seychelles on Monday December 2 to take part in the annual conference of the prestigious Club de Madrid which is to take place at the Coolum Resort outside Brisbane in Queensland, Australia.

Club de Madrid is a world leadership alliance comprising 92 former democratic heads of state and government.
Among those actively involved with the affairs of the Club de Madrid at this time is William J. Clinton, former President of the USA; Jennifer Mary Shipley, former Prime Minister of New Zealand; Oscar Arias, nobel peace prize winner and former President of Colombia; Jose Maria Aznar, former Prime Minister of Spain; Carl Biltd, former Prime Minister of Sweden; Joaquim Chissano, former President of Mozambique; Jean Chretien, former Prime Minister of Canada; Vincente Fox, former President of Mexico; Yasou Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan; Amine Gemayel, former President of Lebanon; Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union; Helmut Kohl, former Chancellor of Germany; John Kufuor, former President of Ghana; Thabo Mbeki, former President of South Africa; Benjamin Mkapa, former President of Tanzania; Romano Prodi, former Prime Minister of Italy; Fidel Ramos, former President of the Philippines; Mary Robinson, former Prime Minister of Ireland and Mario Soares, former President of Portugal.

The four honorary members of the Club de Madrid are Kofi Annan, former secretary general of the UN; Jimmy Carter, former President of the USA; Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition leader of Burma and Jacques Delors, former President of the European Commission.

In a letter dated Madrid October 15, 2013 to President Mancham, the President of the Club, Wim Kok – a former Prime Minister of The Netherlands – states: “Members of the Club unanimously agree that your own intense experiences in politics and government would greatly enrich our organisation and constitute an enormous contribution in the strengthening of democracy and democratic values worldwide. In this sense we will be honoured if you were to join us in Australia and become part of the organisation.”

In a statement yesterday afternoon, Sir James said that his participation at the conference is very timely considering the high profile which Seychelles is enjoying in the international community.
Meanwhile, Mr Mancham has announced that he has given an exclusive interview to SBC TV for its News Extra programme which is expected to be aired on Monday evening.

He said the interview touches several points of current interest, and includes the subject of his participation at the senior citizens’ annual reception at State House and Seychelles’ special relationship with the United Arab Emirates.