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SCCI to work more closely with ministry of finance |23 December 2013

The Ministry of Finance, Trade and Investment (MFTI) and the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) will next year work more closely with a view to bringing on board more proposals from the business community toward the work of the MFTI.

This point was made during a meeting last week between SCCI councillors and the Minister for Finance, Trade and Investment Pierre Laporte. Those discussions centred on the 2014 Budget address and to mark the end of the year.

Mr Laporte gave a commitment for more regular meetings with the Chamber during 2014 in order to gain more private sector input and involvement in the budget preparations and other policy decisions going forward.

“Next year we need to talk more often and we will be happy to look at proposals from the SCCI as contributions to the 2015 budget,” he stated.

Discussions at the meeting were hailed as fruitful, with pertinent and constructive inputs made by the SCCI councillors on topics such as enabling small and medium enterprise growth, local investment opportunities, the impact of the salary increase on private businesses, and the tax regime.

In particular, suggestions to make the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) tax more equitable for businesses were tabled, for which the minister expressed his readiness to consider. Both sides agreed to conduct further analysis on the proposals which would be discussed during the coming year.

The chairman of the SCCI, Marco Francis, expressed his support for the 2014 budget on issues such as the Port Victoria development project, the extended support for the Fisheries Development Fund and e-government initiatives.

“The SCCI is all about promoting economic growth for the people. I think it is vital to understand that merely because we do not agree with every proposal from government that we are against government,” said Mr Francis.

“As government, we recognise your mandate as a very important one,” agreed Minister Laporte. He further acknowledged the help the SCCI offered towards identifying policy issues that would help the private sector become more robust and vibrant.

The two sides also discussed the issue of government contribution toward the SCCI. In 2013, government gave a R500,000 contribution to the chamber and in 2014 it will increase this contribution to R750,000. Minister Laporte urged the SCCI members to contribute more actively to the funding of the organisation.

Mr Laporte thanked the SCCI for their inputs and said that the MFTI would meet the chamber on a quarterly basis in 2014 to work together on issues affecting the business community in Seychelles.

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