28th AU Summit - Mrs Zuma calls for more Seychelles buy-in into African Union agenda |03 February 2017
Seychelles was supportive of the Africa Union (AU) on issues like piracy and the oceans and it should have greater buy-in into the agenda of the AU since it is good when countries are engaged constructively in international organisations which they belong to.
It was in these words that the outgoing chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, characterised the nature of the relationship between the AU and its smallest member-state, Seychelles, during a meeting with Seychelles President, Danny Faure, at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa on Wednesday.
President Faure who was in the Ethiopian capital to attend the 28th Ordinary Session of the AU paid a courtesy call on Mrs Zuma to record Seychelles’ appreciation of her chairmanship of the AUC as well as the relationship between Seychelles and the AU.
President Faure thanked Mrs Zuma for AU’s support of Seychelles during difficult moments and commended her for being one of the first dignitaries who really understood Seychelles when it started championing the concept of the Blue economy.
He praised her stewardship of the AU, noting that as the first woman to fill the post of chair of AUC, she made African women proud and is seen as a beacon of inspiration for African women and girls, especially the marginalised ones.
The Seychelles President also thanked Mrs Zuma for visiting Seychelles during her mandate, recalling that she is the only AUC chair to have done so.
For her part, Mrs Zuma said she was honoured and humbled by the courtesy call of President Faure and said she hopes her successor and the new Commissioners will add impetus to the Blue economy concept by building on the partnership between AU and Denmark, a country with a rich maritime tradition and an economy almost entirely build around the ocean, since ancient times.
She told President Faure that Seychelles should have more buy-in into the AU agenda as this will mutually benefit both.