Seychelles, India seek to expand relations |21 February 2012

“My visit today aims to bring new dimensions to an already excellent relationship between Seychelles and the government of India,” said Minister Adam.

“Minister Antony and I have discussed ways in which we can expand our cooperation in defence, particularly in areas where Seychelles can benefit from the vast experience of India in security matters, especially when it comes to the Indian Ocean as we are both committed to a more stable, and secured maritime space, more conducive to the development needs of the region,” he said.

In addition to discussing new areas of interactions between the two defence forces, including exchanges, personnel training, and increasing the coordination of forces operating in the region, Minister Adam took the opportunity to thank Minister Antony and the Indian government for the generous support extended to Seychelles over the recent years.

Such support includes the gifting of a new state-of-the-art Dornier and the positioning of an Indian-operated Dornier surveillance aircraft within the Seychelles People’s Defence Forces to help with surveillance operations during the construction of the Seychelles plane; numerous training programmes offered to Seychellois military officers; two gifted long-range patrol vessels for the Seychelles Coast Guard; and a US $5 million defence to boost the military infrastructure capacity.

Minister Adam met Minister Antony as part of his three-day official visit to India.