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Archive -Seychelles

70-strong Swedish group on exchange visit in Seychelles |16 April 2014

 

 

 


A delegation of 73 Swedish arrived in Seychelles on Saturday for a ten-day visit.
The group is led by honorary consul Lennart Swenson.

This time, the visit also coincides with the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the International School networking between Sweden and La Digue school.

This programme was initiated in 1999 by the then Minister for Education, Danny Faure and the
late Sister Jude Burke, who was education principal secretary then.

In 2003, Mr Faure flew to Umea to sign a memorandum of understanding to formalise the relationship between Seychelles and Sweden.

In 2008, Alex Jacob (coordinator of the programme from La Digue school) and Mr Swenson were invited for a reception by the King and Queen of Sweden where they showed a lot of interest in the exchange programme and they deeply appreciated the work done.

“Thanks to Vice-President Faure and the late Sister Jude Burke, the programme has now expanded and we are also celebrating our expansion in other fields such as medicine and sports,” said Mr
Jacob.

According to Mr Swenson, almost 1,000 Swedes have come to Seychelles during the last 15 years on the same programme.

“The people in the group this time are composed of former students and their parents, dentists, physio-therapists, doctors, banking people, people from the construction business including others from the private sector,” he noted.

“The exchanges gain lots of attention both in Umea and in Seychelles. The latest collaboration has
culminated in three students from the School of Music and Dance benefitting from six-month courses in
Sweden and this collaboration is moving forward as more beneficiaries will be going to Sweden in the coming months.

“Another sector of collaboration is with the Seychelles Football Federation. Some teams from Sweden came to Seychelles to play some friendly matches and all this thanks to Suketu Patel. We are definitely
waiting for more exchanges of this type,” he added.

During this visit, the third physiotherapists conference was organised and all the physiotherapists of
Seychelles were invited to have an update in this field.

So far, this exchange has brought many benefits to Seychelles. The Swedish generously donated
hundreds of wheelchairs, hospital beds, crutches and other medical equipment. In return, the Seychellois will be visiting Sweden from August 21-31 where they will have the honour of being received by the Mayor and Governor of the city of Umea.

 

 

 

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