Economic partners now know where we stand |20 May 2009

Our economic partners from 20 countries and organisations who attended the forum on Monday have now returned home with enough information and will be able to formulate plans by which they can help us in our reforms.

Principal secretary for finance Ahmed Afif said this in an interview at the end of the forum, which he described as successful.

“We can now coordinate and apply resources where we need to for our benefit and that of our partners,” he said.

“We have told them what we are doing and what strategies we have adopted, and they will now go back home and reflect on what they have learned from different presentations. They will then see what they can do and get back to us, for us to look at what possibilities there are so we work in a coordinated manner.”

He said the success of the forum can be judged at this stage by the level at which people took part, which he said was good, adding that representatives of certain organisations pledged various forms of support for Seychelles.

Among those who attended the forum were representatives of many countries, of the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Common Market for Eastern and Central Africa and other multilateral and bilateral lenders.

Also present were Seychelles’ representatives overseas, namely Claude Morel, Ronny Jumeau, Philippe Le Gall, Noellie Alexander, Dick Esparon and Barry Faure.