ILO and Seychelles willing to further strengthen their partnership |07 October 2015

Aeneas Chuma, International Labour Organisation assistant director general and regional director for Africa, paid a courtesy call on President James Michel and Vice-President Danny Faure at State House yesterday morning.

Mr Chuma and his delegation were accompanied to State House by the minister responsible for Labour and Human Resource Development Idith Alexander and Veronique Bresson the principal secretary of the same ministry.

Also present at the meeting were the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport, Joël Morgan, the President's Diplomatic Adviser, Ambassador Callixte d'Offay, ILO director country office in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Christian Ntsay and Mr Chuma’s special advisor, Geir Tonstol.

President Michel welcomed Mr Chuma on his first visit to Seychelles and conveyed his gratitude to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for its considerable technical help given in support of various projects.

Mr Michel expressed his wish that Mr Chuma’s visit will strengthen the partnership that already exists between Seychelles and ILO.

“It is a pleasure to welcome you and your delegation to Seychelles. I would like to thank the ILO for its support and major role in assisting the government of Seychelles through the provision of technical assistance and others. Seychelles has been able to meet all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and we would like to build up on what we have started. We are looking forward to have your views after your meetings and see how Seychelles and ILO can strengthen collaboration,” said President Michel.

The delegation is here to take part in the ILO annual meeting of chief technical advisors and project managers in the African region taking place at the Berjaya Beau Ballon Bay Hotel since Monday. It ends today. Fifty four member countries including Seychelles are taking part in the meeting.

“I wanted to take the opportunity to hold consultations with the government as well as social partners, representatives of workers and employers. It is an opportunity to listen and learn of the issues and challenges and see where the ILO can be helpful,” Mr Chuma said.

“We briefed President Michel on the ongoing meetings and discussions with government officials and he spoke about the blue economy, youth employment, in particular the recently launched ‘My First Job’ scheme. These are things we can share with other countries,” Mr Chuma pointed out.

He said he also had fruitful discussions with Vice-President Faure and these focused on numerous issues namely the revision of the Labour Law, employment issues, social dialogue, and youth employment among numerous other matters.

“We also learned a lot on the comprehensive social protection and social welfare system Seychelles has. This is also something important to share with other countries because there are not many countries with such a comprehensive social welfare programme. It has been both a dialogue and an occasion to learn about some of the social programmes that exist here that are relevant to the ILO,” Mr Chuma said.

He described the discussions as “excellent” and said the visit was an opportunity to consolidate the good relationship the ILO has with Seychelles and which spans over many decades.