Seychelles/E U: New financing accord worth €100,000 signed |10 January 2014

Seychelles will benefit from the support of the European Union (EU) through a 100,000 euros aid for capacity building of national human resources and easing knowledge transfer through various activities such as joint studies, seminars and conferences.

Foreign Affairs principal secretary Maurice Loustau-Lalanne and Chargé d’Affaires of the European Union delegation Guy Samzun yesterday signed the second Technical Cooperation Facility (TCF) under the 10th EDF (European Development Fund) following the successful implementation of the first.

Apart from complementing to the best possible extent the technical help provided by other donors active in Seychelles, the second Technical Cooperation Facility II (TCF II) of 100,000 euros will be an effective instrument in providing the required financial and technical help to build capacities, source necessary expertise, address knowledge gaps identified by the government, ensure overall linkage of specific programmes to the development strategy of the country and help prepare for the 11th EDF.

Speaking at the ceremony at the Foreign Affairs’ headquarters – Maison Quéau de Quinssy – Mr Samzun said Seychelles has consistently been showing high political commitment at various international forums in seeking donor support for implementing a sustainable development strategy.

"The limited supply of qualified labour in Seychelles is a major constraint to sustainable development and the government of Seychelles is giving high priority to the development of the national capacities. The EU will be primarily focusing on the need to respond to capacity constraints and increased pressure on the existing local resources in order to meet development needs,” said Mr Samzun.

He added that technical help is critical for the successful implementation of the ongoing reform programmes and in particular the economic reforms Seychelles launched in 2008 and for institutional capacity building in order to respond to the economic and social challenges.

Mr Samzun noted that some of the key lessons learned during the implementation of the previous TCF are the challenges faced by the national authorities to comply with the EU procedures as well as to ensure proper accountability of the funding used.

“We hope that the previous learning experience and training provided would enable the national institutions to overcome those obstacles and improve project management under this new TCF. Also a special effort should be put on the accuracy of budget estimates in order to ensure judicious use of resources,” said Mr Samzun.

He also seized the opportunity to inform the Seychelles government that the EU has approved and disbursed 1.6 million euros for the education sector budget support programme following adoption of the education strategy by the government in December 2013.

PS Loustau-Lalanne said that the Seychelles government is thankful to the European Union – a very important bailleur de fonds for the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) which celebrates its 30th anniversary today.

He added that in regards to the EU funding, it has over the years seen an enormous shift and an enormous increase in the application of funds.

“I remember the time the grant money was no more than €3 million and it was solely used for environmental projects. Then it reached 16 million. The new €100,000 grant will allow us to make sure that our young people get the necessary training to be fully conversant with EU procedures. We pride ourselves on using funds received correctly. It is my wish then that the money be used first to improve human capacity to better understand the reporting style and writing better projects,” said PS Loustau-Lalanne.