Derrick Ally, Selby Pillay appointed ambassadors |01 October 2014

Derrick Ally and Selby Pillay are Seychelles’ two new ambassadors.

The National Assembly approved the Presidential appointments of Messrs Ally and Pillay as ambassadors during its session yesterday in accordance with Article 64 (1) of the Constitution.

Mr Ally, who studied Biological Sciences and Pedagogy from the University of Auckland in New Zealand, has for almost 23 years been actively involved in diplomatic service both in Seychelles, working with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the President’s Office, and as an international civil servant in London, working for the Commonwealth secretariat.

He was the head of protocol from 1995 to 1997, before being promoted to director of protocol in 1998. In 2004, he became the director general for Presidential Affairs and chief Presidential Protocol. From 2005 to 2014, he was the executive assistant to the Commonwealth secretary general.

Before his appointment as ambassador, Mr Pillay, who has a Master of Science in Politics and Economics from the Berlin University of Economical Sciences, Germany, was the principal counsellor in the office of the principal secretary. He also served as principal counsellor at the Seychelles permanent mission to the United States from March 1, 2011 to August 31, 2014.

He started his career with the then Ministry of External Relations as an economic cooperation officer in 1994. Since then he has hold many positions in Seychelles and abroad, such as the principal counsellor at the Seychelles permanent mission to the United Nations, New York in United States of America from 2011 to 2014. Previously he held the positions of director general for international relations between 2010-2011 and also director general for multilateral affairs between 2007-2010.

The appointment of Messrs Ally and Pillay takes effect today (October 1, 2014).  They will initially be based in Seychelles, but may be posted overseas on a rotation basis, as is the normal practice for ambassadors.

Seychelles has 11 accredited ambassadors and they are Ambassador Marie-Pierre Lloyd (London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and she presented her credentials on 01/11/2012), Ambassador Vivianne Fock-Tave (Belgium and she presented her credentials on  03/03/2010), Ambassador Philippe Le Gall (People’s Republic of China and he presented his credentials on 11/05/2007), Ambassador Joseph Nourrice (Addis Ababa, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and he presented his credentials on 02/10/2012), Ambassador Bernard Shamlaye (Paris,  France and he presented his credentials on 26/02/2012), Ambassador Waven William (Delhi, Republic of India and he presented his credentials on 24/04/2012), Ambassador Claude Morel (Pretoria, Republic of South Africa and he presented his credentials 03/10/2012), Ambassador Dick Esparon (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and he presented his credentials on 19/09/2011), Ambassador Marie-Louise Potter (New York, United States of America, SMUN, and she presented her credentials on 19/09/2012), Ambassador Ronald Jumeau (New York, Climate Change and Small Island Developing Sate Issues) and Ambassador Callixte D'Offay (for Indian Ocean islands but based in Seychelles).