Minister Cosgrow visits SBS and Industrial Estates Authority |21 July 2017

The Minister for Industry, Entrepreneurship Development & Business Innovation Wallace Cosgrow yesterday visited the Seychelles Bureau of Standards including the Fish Inspection Quality Control Unit and the Industrial Estates Authority offices.

These are some of the institutions which fall under his ministry and he said his familiarisation visit has allowed him to see what the workers are doing, their working conditions so government can begin consultations with the industry itself.

Minister Cosgrow was accompanied by Entrepreneurship Development & Business Innovation principal secretary Roger Toussaint and Charlie Morin, board chairman of the Seychelles Bureau of Standards (SBS). Also present were the chief executive of SBS Andy Ally.

At the Fish Inspection Quality Control Unit, Christopher Hoareau updated the minister on the role of the unit, challenges it is facing and its hopes for the future. The unit has to meet the regulations of the European Union regarding fish quality control for the overseas market and Mr Hoareau has described it as quite tough sometimes. It has 10 staff including 8 inspectors.

“Our work here is based on the certification of fishery products especially fish which are exported to the international markets, which are mainly European. As for tuna products, about 95% canned tuna goes towards European markets. For us to be able to do this work, we have to organise us in a way that we can satisfy all these regulations where we have to look at both the fish and the fishing together as an industry – when the fish are caught on boats, what types of boats, what requirements these boats abide by, the way fish are preserved on boats before reaching port, the hygienic demands they need to comply to, mode of transportation before being processed in a factory, the product obtained from the processing,” explained Mr Hoareau.

He also said the unit faces challenges as it is a small one with huge responsibilities. They have to conduct many inspections and audits with limited resources and are continuously communicating with international partners like the European Union.

CEO Ally said as there is a boom in the fishery development, the unit will have to be enlarged to accommodate more staff. Another concern from the unit was the possibility of having a Seychelles representative at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, to look into Seychelles’ case so as to bring more weight in our discussions and points of view when it comes to negotiating with the EU on our unit and on Seychelles itself.

At the SBS, Minister Cosgrow was given an overview of the role of the institution which is affiliated to many international organisations including African ones like the SADC and Comesa. It operates under the ISO 9001 management system.

“The visit today was to familiarise myself with the organisations, their functions, their staff to see how we can support them in future through policies and interventions from the ministry, from the government to help them better serve the public,” said Minister Cosgrow.

He said the visit also allowed him and his delegation to have an insight into what the organisation does. He has noticed, he said, that the staff are doing quite a lot for the industry in various sectors. Therefore his ministry and government will help them for better service delivery.

The minister also said these institutions offer services that we generally hear about but do not study them profoundly.

“The service that the SBS offers are really important for the country and for the industry. Services that industries need to move forward and to develop. Therefore it is important we give a boost to SBS towards better quality and high level services,” the minister said.

At the Industrial Estates Authority (IEA), chief executive Lena Desaubin explained to the minister the work of the authority, which she also described as very loaded.

“At the IEA we do not have an account section, we depend on the SRC (Seychelles Revenue Commission) to collect our revenue. We are in discussion for things to be settled so we can keep our own records of revenue collected by the IEA,” said Mrs Desaubin, while explaining to the minister one of the daily challenges they are experiencing.

The accompanying photos show Minister Cosgrow on his tour of the SBS and the IEA.