Seychelles, Tanzania to start talks on sharing seabed management |16 January 2014

Seychelles will be hosting the first in a series of talks with Tanzania on the possibility of making a joint submission of an area of the extended continental shelf in the Aldabra region to the United Nations Commission.

This is in accordance with the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea.

A five-member delegation from the Republic of Tanzania is already in Seychelles upon the invitation of the government of Seychelles to initiate the negotiations.
 
The Tanzanian delegation is being led by Zabron Y. Masele, the advisor on boundary matters, Ministry of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements Development.
    
The Seychelles delegation will be led by Raymond Chang-Tave, the chairperson of the Maritime Boundary Delimitation Committee.

The discussions will be over a period of two days (January 16-17, 2014) and will take place at the Ministry of Land Use and Housing.
 
Joseph Francois, principal secretary of Land Use and Planning, will deliver the opening remarks to officially launch the discussions.

“This negotiation being launch in Seychelles is further testimony of the leadership of Seychelles in enhancing the spirit of good neighbourliness in the region and reflects on the cordial bilateral relations between Seychelles and Tanzania,” says a communiqué from the Ministry of Land Use and Housing.

“This will further enhance cooperation towards the sustainable and concerted management of marine resources of both nations in line with our strategic vision of maximising the benefits of our maritime resources in the concept of the Blue Economy Development.”

This is the second of such submissions that Seychelles will be presenting to the United Nations.  The first joint submission was with Mauritius for the Mascareignes plateau region, an extended continental shelf of around 396,000 sq kms.