Tanzania and Seychelles agree to foster ties |20 June 2011

Mr Kikwete – who was accompanied by his wife Salma and their 11-year-old son Rashid – was the guest of honour at our National Day celebrations.

They arrived by private jet and were met by President James Michel and other dignitaries at the Seychelles International Airport on Saturday afternoon.

Mr Kikwete later got a rousing welcome from Seychellois as he entered the Stad Linite, venue of the celebrations, and held talks with Mr Michel at State House before leaving for home the same night.

First Lady Natalie Michel held talks with Tanzanian First Lady Salma Kikwete as the two presidents met.

Mr Kikwete said Tanzania and Seychelles have a long history of cooperation which was started by former President France Albert Rene and the late Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere “after which the two countries worked very well in many sectors including on international and regional issues”.

“President Michel and I agreed to revive the kind of vibrant cooperation we used to have at bilateral level,” Mr Kikwete told Seychellois and Tanzanian media in an interview at State House.

He said Seychelles has strengths in tourism and fisheries which Tanzania has not tapped to its maximum potential and could learn from us.

Mr Kikwete said Tanzania has a lot to offer in agricultural produce which we can import from his country, but noted there is no direct air or sea transport between the two countries, adding the air and sea links there used to be should be revived.

“Some of the food Seychelles imports from other countries originates in Tanzania,” he said, adding with better cooperation we can import directly from Dar-Es-Salaam.

“Seychelles is working to develop cargo fishing with other countries and Tanzania is exploring the possibility of being part of that venture,” said Mr Kikwete.

Air Tanzania at the moment needs to be “resuscitated then revived” so as to possibly offer flights to Seychelles, he said.

Tanzania has developed produce like high- yielding bananas which can replace and do much better than the ones we have here, doubling the size of our harvest “from the very same kind of crops that do well in Seychelles”,  he said, giving an example of what we can learn from Tanzania.

He said since the Gulf of Eden is heavily guarded by foreign war ships pirates are shifting further south threatening the interest of both of our countries so we need to work more closely together against the menace.

The former Lieutenant Colonel said Seychelles has grown and changed a lot since he was here last in the 1980s.

Mr Michel said it was a great pleasure to welcome President and Mrs Kikwete to Seychelles as the guests of honour during our National Day.

“Your visit offers us an opportunity to re-launch a dynamic bilateral relationship based on our shared history and our mutual understanding as neighboring states," he said.

"On a bilateral basis, we believe by working together we can improve our mutual security
“Our militaries can work very effectively together. Piracy is the new threat that is challenging all of us.  “We must work together to ensure that more African states have the resources to patrol their own waters, and not rely only on external partners,” said Mr Michel during their meeting at State House.

He said by working together we can share best practices and also the burden.

“Pirates are threatening the way of life of coastal states.  We can work together to develop systems of prosecution that assist each other. "

On trade, investment and industry, Mr Michel told his Tanzanian counterpart:

"We believe that direct trade and transport links between our countries can lead to many development opportunities.

"Seychelles and Tanzania can cooperate effectively in tourism and fisheries as these are key sectors of the economies of both states. We can look into the possibility of having exchanges between the two parties where these sectors are concerned."