President Michel to take blue economy to New Zealand ahead of Samoa |26 August 2014

Seychelles’ advocacy of the blue economy concept will be showcased at the third International Conference of Small Island States to be held in Samoa early next month.

President James Michel will be leading an important delegation to this United Nations-sponsored summit.

Prior to that, he intends to enlist the support of the government of New Zealand for the blue economy during an official visit to Auckland at the formal invitation of the latter.

 According to the Seychelles President, “inclusion, ownership and empowerment of island states and coastal populations are key elements to implementing the blue economy”.  

As island nations, Seychelles and New Zealand share core values and principles that define their stance with regard to environmental conservation and sustainable development.

 The blue economy concept is increasingly gaining currency as a central theme of the global sustainable development agenda, climate mitigation and poverty eradication. At the fourth summit of the Indian Ocean Commission held over the weekend in the Comoros, French President François Hollande emphasised its importance and pledged his country’s full support in developing and promoting the concept.

President Michel has highlighted the importance of the blue economy on many occasions, not least at the recent US-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington, at the SADC Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, at the African Union Summit.

An important summit on the blue economy in Abu Dhabi was held in January this year. There, President Michel stressed that the importance of the blue economy to humankind could not be underestimated, given that over 70% of our planet is covered by ocean and that 90% of the world’s trade in goods is conducted by sea.

“Oceans transcend states. They connect us all to each other. And we must harness these connections for development, not just enrichment,” said President Michel during his address at the opening of the Abu Dhabi summit.

It is a concept that aims to shift development in small island development states (Sids) and coastal states towards a sustainable development trajectory building on the Rio+20 consensus. Together with the concept and principles of the green economy, it is a tool that offers specific mechanisms for Sids and coastal countries to address their sustainable development challenges.

The concept has now become entrenched in Seychelles’ foreign policy, and a central tenet of government policy in general.