Seychelles’ ambassador to The Netherlands accredited |13 July 2015

 Selby Pillay has been accredited as Seychelles’ ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

He presented his credentials recently to His Majesty King Willem-Alexander at the Nooreinde Palace, in The Hague.

The main thrust of the accreditation was to identify avenues of mutually beneficial cooperation between the governments and people of both countries. Discussions with the Dutch monarch focused on an array of issues such as maritime security, sustainable fishing, Blue economy, environment and climate change.

Ambassador Pillay conveyed President James Michel’s warm greetings to King Willem-Alexander, who recalled his private visit to Seychelles in the early 1980s and expressed his desire to return.

King Willem-Alexander commended Seychelles’ efforts as a true champion for small island developing states and the debt swap for nature protection innovative approach to sustainable development.

He further highlighted Seychelles’ leadership role in the fight against maritime piracy and its proactive stance on developing the concept of the Blue economy.

Ambassador Pillay expressed the need to review the existing Bilateral Air Services Agreement (Basa) that exists between the two nations in order to reflect current European Union policies on codeshares.

The Seychelles ambassador reemphasised the need to combat maritime piracy regardless of the drop in the number of attacks in the western Indian Ocean region.

Ambassador Pillay thanked The Netherlands and the European Union for their contribution in this regard.

Following his accreditation Ambassador Pillay also held talks with officials of The Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The ambassador was accompanied to the visit by Johnette Stephen, first secretary at the Seychelles embassy in Brussels.