‘EU values tuna accord with Seychelles most’ |04 November 2011

Carmen Fraga Estévez said this after she led representatives of a seven-strong team from the Fisheries Committee of the European Parliament that met President James Michel and Vice-President Danny Faure at State House yesterday.

“Our committee decided to come and see what is going on here by talking to the government and the people,” she said in an interview.

Ms Estévez said her team was due to visit the Indian Ocean Tuna cannery and the Victoria-based Indian Ocean Tuna Commission headquarters.

She noted the EU is reviewing its policies including those to do with external relations and current agreements and their visit here can help in the revision “since everything can be improved”.

The experience with the Seychelles agreement has been good, “and since not every agreement can be good, we want to learn from it what can be improved in the future”.

The team also visited the Seychelles Bureau of Standards to see how tuna from here is assessed as it has to meet EU standards.

“We have a good opinion of what is going on and what can be done, but in general we are satisfied with what we have seen.

She commended Seychelles economy and what it has been able to do for the country, praising the country’s political will to achieve set goals.