President Danny Faure’s State visit to Mauritius - New Cooperation agreements signed |28 October 2017

Teachers from Mauritius will at the start of next year be recruited to fill the gap in state schools, effort is being stepped up to enroll Mauritian doctors, agricultural products will be imported from Mauritius, joint effort to fight IUU fishing, drug trafficking and other trans-border crimes, agreement to buy pharmaceutical products in bulk…

These are but only some of the actions that Mauritius and Seychelles have agreed on following discussions on their joint commission. Following tête-à-tête discussions between President Danny Faure and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth as well as a working session between delegations from the two countries, a series of agreements were signed in Port Louis, Mauritius yesterday morning.

This was in the context of President Faure’s State visit to Mauritius.

The meeting and working session followed talks on the 12th session of the Mauritius-Seychelles Joint Commission held in Mauritius on Monday and yesterday morning after what has been described as a “frank, friendly and fruitful” working session between the two heads of government and their delegations many important decisions were taken with the aim to further strengthening bilateral relations. Some of these decisions were formalised through the signing of five memorandum of understanding (MoUs).

The Minister for Family Affairs Jeanne Siméon signed on the Seychelles side while the Minister for Foreign Affairs Seetanah Lutchmeenaraidoo signed on the Mauritian side.

The two ministers first signed the agreed minutes of the joint commission meeting before proceeding to sign the agreements on:

- Cooperation in the field of management of operations and staff grading between the two countries’ prison services,

- A twinning agreement between Rodrigues and Victoria,

- An agreement for collaboration between the ANHRD and the Mauritius Human Resource Development Council,

- Cooperation in the health sector,

- Recruitment of teachers and other specialists in the education sector from Mauritius.

‘More opportunities for our people’

PM Jugnauth and President Faure witnessed the signing which took place at the New Treasury Building in Port Louis following which they took turns to elaborate some of the actions to the media.

First to take the stand, PM Jugnauth commended the quality, high level and importance of the bilateral discussions which he said sought to create more opportunities for the people of the two countries.

He expressed heartfelt gratitude to the government of Seychelles through President Faure for its invaluable support on the issue of Chagos island at the United Nations.

“Seychelles will continue to stand by us as Mauritius prepares to take the matter to the International Court of Justice,” Mr Jugnauth said.

He applauded the two countries’ ability to work collaboratively, which has led to progress in respect of the joint management of the extended continental shelf.

He announced that Seychelles will host the secretariat of the extended continental shelf while the chief executive will be recruited from Mauritius, calling it a significant achievement for the two countries.

The next meeting of the joint commission will be held in January next year prior to the first meeting of the ministerial council which Seychelles will host in May and June also next year.

PM Jugnauth expressed satisfaction that the 12th Session of the Joint Commission has resulted in a successful outcome: agreements in different fields.

“These are examples of what can be achieved when our two nations work together,” he remarked.

He said Mauritius expects the recruitment procedures for teachers to be completed by the end of the year to enable the selected candidates to proceed to Seychelles to start work in January 2018.

With regard to the agreement on health cooperation, PM Jugnauth said his government is looking forward to its early implementation in order to advance the recruitment of Mauritian doctors by Seychelles.

On another note PM Jugnauth said Mauritius is happy to note that the State Bank of Mauritius (SBM) Seychelles has been set up and is strategically located on the Asia Africa corridor noting that Seychelles fits nicely within the SBM group expansion strategy. 

He noted that Mauritius has agreed to increase the number of sponsored scholarships to Seychelles since 2015 by five over a period of three years to be financed under the SBM and this will materialise as soon as the SBM in Seychelles becomes fully operational.

In the field of agriculture, PM Jugnauth said the two countries have agreed to conclude an MoU before the end of the year in order to ease exchanges and allow export of agricultural products to Seychelles to start beginning of next year.

It is in this context that a technical team from Seychelles will visit Mauritius next month to engage with technicians from the Mauritian Ministry of Agro Industries.

In relation to tourism, PM Jugnauth expressed appreciation for Seychelles’ success in the development of the sustainable tourism label.

“We will work with renewed interest with Seychelles in terms of sharing information and best practices,” he pointed out.

Mauritius and Seychelles are engaged in a joint fisheries surveillance programme (Smart Fish) since 2016 and they have now agreed to move towards joint operations towards illegal unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing in 2018.

PM Jugnauth further announced that the excellent collaborations with Seychelles in the fight against piracy and drugs proliferation in the region will continue.

“Seychelles will support Mauritius in mobilising regional efforts in the fight against maritime piracy and drugs proliferation through exchange of information at regional level,” he said, congratulating Seychelles for the successful tenure of the chairmanship of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia.

“As Mauritius prepares to take over the chairmanship of the group in January 2018, it will rely on the full support of the Seychelles government,” he said.

‘Seychelles shares special relationship with Mauritius’

President Faure on his part said Mauritius is one of Seychelles’ valued neighbours with whom it shares a special relationship. Conveying warm greetings and good wishes from the people of Seychelles, he reiterated that this visit affirms the strong friendship between our two countries which he described as “vibrant, expansive and mutually beneficial”.

President Faure further went on to add that the visit confirms the two countries’ common commitment to take their developments to new heights.

“When Seychelles and Mauritius support each other, we make our countries more secure and our people more prosperous and the region better,” President Faure remarked.

He described the discussions with PM Jugnauth as “fruitful and productive”.

He noted that the two countries have over the past decade developed a strong synergy at both bilateral and regional levels and as a result both countries have expressed the desire to continue to work together to develop a more strategic partnership for their mutual benefits.

“We expressed our commitment to continue to use our joint commission for bilateral cooperation to consolidate our bilateral relations,” he said referring to the different agreements signed.

He said the two countries also expressed satisfaction on progress made in discussions on the joint management of the continental shelf and agreed that endorsement of the three-year plan to manage the area is a vital step to move the process forward.

Furthermore, he highlighted the fact that the two countries have celebrated enhanced air connectivity which improves business, tourism, cultural activities as well as nurture people to people contacts.

The two countries also discussed ways to further boost trade and commercial relations and agreed that considerable opportunities still exist for further expansion to bring their economies closer together, to push for more growth and create opportunities for our entrepreneurs.

“We discussed and agreed to support our countries to bring down the cost of pharmaceutical products by establishing a mechanism of bulk purchase,” President Faure announced, noting that the Seychelles Trading Company (STC) will work closely with the Mauritian Trading Company to procure essential commodities through bulk purchasing which would benefit our people.

President Faure reaffirmed the two countries’ commitment to continue to work    closely together to consolidate and expand regional, sub-regional and continental cooperation and stressed on the importance of remaining at the heart of initiatives that nurture collaboration and collective actions.

He said the two countries have agreed on the need to strengthen their advocacy effort on the international level, particularly with regard to the concern of small island developing states.

President Faure has extended an invitation to PM Jugnauth to visit Seychelles at a time deemed convenient.  

Text: Marie-Anne Lepathy in Mauritius

Photos: Mervin Marie