Seychelles and Brazil sign bilateral air services accord |22 May 2015

Seychelles and Brazil have signed a bilateral air services agreement (Basa).
The accord was signed on behalf of Seychelles by Barry Faure, secretary of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Transport and the outgoing Brazilian ambassador to Seychelles Francisco Carlos Soares Luz.

The signing finalised discussions that took place between the two countries and aviation authorities during the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) air services negotiations conference which was held in December 2013 in Durban, South Africa.

Also present at the signing were the chief executives of Air Seychelles Manoj Papa and of the Seychelles Civil Aviation Authority (SCAA) Gilbert Faure; the principal secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne and other officials of Air Seychelles and of foreign affairs.

“The air services agreement which we have signed today will finalise this function, this modern framework which encompasses all the major requirements for commercial operations in this modern age of civil aviation, thus ensuring full compliance with international civil aviation’s safety and security rules and procedures,” said Barry Faure.

“It will provide the airlines with exceptional flexibilities to operate through cooperative arrangements such as codeshare partnerships which permit an important means for assuring a seamless point of connection for passengers and goods through virtual network,” added Mr Faure.

It will also permit the use of leased aircraft for the proper management of operational flexibilities necessary for small airlines like our very own Air Seychelles and make available fully liberal capacity regime which empowers the airlines to determine their own operations and decide on their own fate, he said. He added that these conditions are consistent with air transport policy of Seychelles which continues to motivate Seychelles to gear up to improve international connectivity.

He informed the Brazilian ambassador of the vision of the government of Seychelles for the Seychelles international airport’s transformation, to build an international gateway now and beyond and emphasised the closeness of Brazil in the country’s beyond Africa strategic initiative for the betterment of our tourism industry and for continuous development of our trade links and the promotion of our commercial private sector.

He said that Tuesday’s signing with Brazil will act as a gateway for further development of the two countries’ bilateral relations.
The Brazilian ambassador said his country is hoping to sign other agreements of this kind to foster tourism.

He said of the 14 million Brazilian tourists who travel every year, fewer than a thousand come to Seychelles.
“There is space for improvement and I believe that the next step forward will be the exemption of visa for short-term visits to Brazil which we can probably put in force in the next couple of weeks,” he said.

He said this is something that will help improve trade relations between the two countries.