Seychelles’ HC to the Maldives accredited |23 July 2014

Waven William has been accredited as Seychelles’ new high commissioner to the Maldives.

He presented his credentials to the Maldivian President, Abdulla Yameen, in the islands’ capital, Male, on July 7.

The accreditation of Mr William to the island nation was timely in sustaining the continuity of diplomatic and bilateral cooperation between the two countries following the Maldivian elections in September 2013.

Seychelles and the Maldives first established relations 34 years ago and Mr William is the second Seychellois to be accredited to the Republic of Maldives.

A meeting with the President of Maldives followed the accreditation, where Mr William was able to raise pending bilateral negotiation issues, namely agreements to be initialled by both countries in relation to double taxation avoidance, air services and fisheries cooperation.

Mr William further noted that Seychelles could learn from the innovative and creative ideas implemented by the Maldivian government to address the challenges posed by global warming while the Seychelles government is creating its own homegrown mitigation plan.

President Yameen reassured Mr William that his government was willing to not only work closely to finalise these agreements but also wanted to explore new avenues for future cooperation.

Mr William also held talks with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, Dunya Maumoon. At the meeting Mr William emphasised the need for collaborative work especially in advocating the concerns of small island developing states (Sids) in international fora and called on a unified approach at the Sids summit in Samoa later this year.