Special reception marks Russia’s National Day |11 June 2016

A special reception was held at the Savoy Resort and Spa on Thursday evening to mark the National Day of the Russian Federation, which is celebrated every June 12 since 1992, and the 40th anniversary of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Among guests present at the event were former President James Mancham, Vice-President Danny Faure, President of the Court of Appeal Justice Francis Macgregor, ambassador of the Russian Federation Vladimir Belous, ministers and members of the diplomatic corps.

Addressing the gathering, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport Joel Morgan said celebrating Russia’s National Day presents a unique opportunity for Seychelles to appreciate what Russia has contributed to the world and congratulated and wished them further progress on behalf of President James Michel, the government and the people of Seychelles.

He also reminded the pivotal role that a number of countries played in recognising our young Republic the day the Seychelles flag was hoisted for the very first time in 1976.

“Russia features among the very first countries to establish relations with Seychelles the day we became a sovereign nation and has been a fundamental partner in helping Seychellois people shape their own destiny,” he said.

He pointed out that this privileged partnership works on the elements on the mutual trust which emanates from the fact that there are commonalities embedded in principles shared between our two countries, irrespective of our sizes with Russia as the largest country in the world and Seychelles one of the smallest.

He took stock of our relations in the field of defence, education, tourism, capacity building and investment and charted new avenues of exchange that would benefit our two peoples such as the untapped potential in our cultural and commercial links.

Ambassador Belous said Russia’s emergence in a new historical format was not easy.

“Recreated on the ruins of the Soviet Union, my country has gone through the stages of sharp political confrontation, narrowly escaped another bloody civil war, managed to defeat separatism, eliminate the threat of further disintegration of the state, conducted a radical transformation of the political system and economy,” he said.

He said Russia has always valued the stability of our political dialogue and highly successful cooperation between our countries on the international arena, especially in the frameworks of the United Nations.

“Our historic path by which we moved together, the peoples of our two countries successfully solved a wide range of issues related to the improvement of the national and regional security… We recognise the great contribution of Seychelles as one of the leaders in the fight against piracy and have the honour to be your partner,” he said.

The ambassador also talked about our similar interests and past collaborations in the field of environment protection, the Blue Economy, climate change, military cooperation, agriculture, technology, science, education, culture, real estate, tourism, fisheries and sports.

He also pointed out the continuous efforts being done by our two countries to bringing new opportunities for business interaction and investments such as the visa waiver agreement signed last year and promised further improvement of our relations.

The guests were also able to view in an exhibition the first bilateral documents signed confirming official recognition of the Republic of Seychelles by Moscow just after our independence, and various other documents and photographs of students studying in Russia, ambassadors accredited over the years, among others.