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Seychelles business delegation cements links with Indian counterparts |05 July 2018

 

 

 

Given the importance of cooperation in the areas of trade, commerce and finance between India and Seychelles, President Danny Faure last month invited a few members of the local business community to form part of his delegation.

Seeking to attract potential business investors and explore trade opportunities, a business session was organisedon June 25 at the prestigious Oberoi Hotel in New Delhi between the Seychelles business delegation and a large Indian business trade delegation emanating from the three main Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry.

Speaking at the forum as the honorary guest, President Faure invited the Indian businesses and traders to consider venturing into the blue economy and ocean-based activities given our vast ocean resources.

He highlighted that the land mass in Seychelles is limited, so no large-scale production is being sought.

But he pointed out that many outer islands have potential for reasonably sized agriculture, fisheries and tourism activities.

President Faure also suggested that, given the beauty of our natural physical landscape and our turquoise waters, perhaps that could serve as an enticing setting for the famous Bollywood film industry.

At the end of his speech, President Faure stated: “Seychelles is open for business”.

The Seychellois business delegation at the business session were represented by the chairperson of Seychelles Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), Oliver Bastienne; the chief executive of the Seychelles Trading Company (STC), Christine Joubert, and Gafoor Yakub, chairman of Chaka Brothers, Penlac & Nouvobanq, who were accompanied by Messrs. Ramu Pillay of Pillay R Group, N. Ramani of Ramani & Company, Ravji Raghwani of Laxmanbhai, KeshraBudhia of Shreeji Construction and Jamshed Pardiwalla of Allied Agencies.

Both Mr Bastienne and Mr Yakub gave presentations at the podium. Mr Bastienne talked very broadly on the importance of both business communities working together to remove trade barriers whereas Mr Yakub took a more pointed and direct stance. He said it was important to promote direct trade links as one of the ways of reducing the cost of doing business.

“Too often business is done between agents and brokers and commissions have to be paid and consumer prices go up as a result,” Mr Yakub noted.

Both Seychellois participants described their involvement in the presidential delegation as having been fruitful and positive.

Mr Yakub added that both the private sector business delegation and the CEO of Seychelles Investment Bureau (SIB), Cindy Vidot, were able to meet and interact with different Indian businesses and representatives of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM) as well as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

After the forum, SCCI chairman, Mr Bastienne said the trading environment between Seychelles and India is still untapped with many opportunities to both countries to do business.

He noted that, as the summit was very short, discussions with their Indian counterpart should be continued.

While it is important to look at potential business investment opportunities, he said SCCI will encourage the government to establish solid policies for an enabling business environment for private enterprises especially in relation to the cost of business financing.

“We want to make sure businesses, especially the small and medium enterprises, are getting the real cost of financing and fair interest rates,” Mr Bastienne added.

Mr Yakub said their presence in the presidential delegation was to assist the government in attracting FDI and getting commitments from Indian businessmen via business-to-business (B2B) meetings to trade directly and undertake mutually beneficial business ventures with Seychelles. Their main objective was to try and promote direct trade links with manufacturers, producers and exporters instead of passing through a third party or middle man thus reducing the cost of doing business which he hoped would be passed on to the consumers.

Mr Yakub remarked that already initial contacts have been established via emails and whatsapp exchanges with a number of different businesses who attended the Business Session in New Delhi.

“Some are showing interest in joint venture or management contracting type of business with Seychelles,” said Mr Yakub.

He highlighted a large food producer and export house with its own brand of food products and mix of spices, ready to get into contact with local private businesses for bulk buying like STC.

He also noted the interest of pharmaceutical firms with World Health Organisation (WHO) accreditation ready to provide affordable but high quality pharmaceutical products.

He said he has received interest from companies producing building materials as well as those that can undertake turkey projects in health, education and port infrastructure.

Mr Yakub said he managed to have brief discussions with at least three privately operated general hospitals whose representatives are interested in either joint hospital operations or specialist hospital set ups in Seychelles, subject to conducting detailed feasibility studies.

There was also an interest from providers of telecommunications and information technology. He has asked the Telecom & IT providers to present a synopsis of what they have in mind as well as an example of a small country where they have successfully implemented their cabling infrastructure. His aim is to liaise with the DICT via the government’s focal point for investment, the SIB, for them to study the proposals and decide the way forward.

“I’ve been receiving e-mails from CEOs of the different firms and I will share the information with the concerned authorities. They will eventually discuss and work out if those business ventures are good for Seychelles or not,” said Mr Yakub. However, there are some that can be dealt with directly by the private sector instead of the government or public sector such as the procurement of reasonably priced construction materials for example.

Mr Yakub noted he was satisfied with the overseas business mission but he stressed that there has to be a proper dialogue and follow-up on the outcomes of the business session if Seychelles is serious about doing business with India. 

The accompanying photos show highlights of the business session.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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