Seychelles and Mozambique agree to boost their bilateral cooperation |11 April 2018

Seychelles’ secretary of state for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Barry Faure, speaking from the capital of Mozambique has said that the two countries had agreed to boost their bilateral cooperation as they share many similarities and could benefit from their respective comparative advantages as neighbours sharing the same ocean space. 

Ambassador Faure spoke to the local press at the end of bilateral talks with Mozambican Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Minister José Condugua Antonio Pacheco.

The latter, in thanking Seychelles for the visit, added that both countries had agreed to start negotiations for the signing of a General Cooperation Agreement and an Agreement for Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, among many other areas that had been mutually identified.

The Seychelles delegation that undertook the working visit to Mozambique between April 6-7 also comprised Attorney General Frank Ally, Commissioner of Police Kishnan Labonte and Alex Barbier, representing the chief executive of the Seychelles Petroleum Company (Seypec).

Talks were also held with the Ministry for Interior, the Police, Immigration, Transport & Communication and Sea, Inland Waters & Fisheries. Companies dealing with petroleum and gas exploration were also visited with particular regard to opportunities in the ports of Mozambique and the supply of LNG which, as was stated in the State-of-the-nation address by President Danny Faure last month, is expected to become a major source of energy supply in 2021. Seychelles also took the opportunity to promote the first African Ship Owners Summit (April 23-25, 2018) which is being hosted in Seychelles by Seypec in collaboration with the African Association of Ship Owners and the African Union Commission.

The parties agreed that work would now continue at the technical level on the various areas of cooperation that have been agreed.

The Mozambican side is expected to return the visit once a substantive number of agreements are made ready for signing.