Mancham briefs President on overseas missions |22 June 2012

The first was Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London and the second was a meeting of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) in Lusaka, Zambia.

President Michel earlier this month nominated Mr Mancham “who has played an important role in the history of Seychelles and its relationship with the United Kingdom” as his special envoy and the official representative of the government and people of Seychelles to attend the official celebrations of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee.

Speaking after meeting Mr Michel at State House yesterday morning, Mr Mancham said during the celebrations in London he met Mauritian Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam who has just ended a state visit here.

Mr Mancham welcomes the engagement between Mauritius and Seychelles to jointly manage the Mascarene plateau.

“This constitutes an important development which could serve as an example in the search for peace on the African continent where many neighbouring countries have taken arms to try and resolve border and territorial disputes,” Mr Mancham said.

After London Mr Mancham went to Lusaka, Zambia to attend a three-day Comesa committee of elders familiarisation meeting on the institution’s programmes at the secretariat.

The June 10-12 meeting was opened by Comesa secretary-general Sindiso Ngwenya.
Its aim was also to discuss a wide range of issues that call for an integrated approach in order to address the challenges faced by the region; and emphasis was put on the need for the region to rely on its resources in order to support self-sustaining economic development.

The committee also held talks with the executive management and managers of various programmes of the common market with the view of not only concretising strategies for intervention in ongoing conflicts in the region but also identifying entry points to support the broader integration agenda.

Among the various areas which the committee members were briefed on were: peace and security, conflict early warning system, the programme on democracy and governance .

The Comesa committee of elders was established by the summit of the Comesa authority in Djibouti in 2006 to support the office of the secretary-general with preventive diplomacy.

Mr Mancham was nominated by President Michel to sit on the committee of elders following a request by the Comesa.

While in Lusaka Mr Mancham also paid a courtesy call on former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, who served as the first President of Zambia, from 1964 to 1991.

President Michel has thanked President Mancham for the work he is doing to promote Seychelles around the world in important international fora and occasions such as the Diamond Jubilee.