New garden brings piece of Thailand to Seychelles |23 May 2014

Seychellois and visitors alike can now have a taste of Thailand right here in Seychelles instead of travelling hundreds of miles to this exotic south-east Asian country.

This follows the official opening yesterday of a Thai garden located in our National Botanical Gardens at Mont Fleuri.

While officially opening the garden, the Minister for Environment and Energy Dr Rolph Payet described the new attraction as “a real piece of Thailand” in Seychelles.

The ceremony was held in the presence of the Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St Ange; Ambassador of the Kingdom of Thailand to Seychelles Ittiporn Boonpracong; principal secretaries for Foreign Affairs and for Environment and Energy, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne and Wills Agricole respectively; the chief executive of the Thai Botanical Garden Organisation Dr Suyanese Vessabutr and the National Botanical Garden Foundation’s (NBGF) chief executive Raymond Brioche.

The Thai Seychelles Garden comprises two projects – the garden itself and the propagation and tissue culture laboratory which is the first such laboratory in Seychelles.  

It will assist the NBGF to propagate plants which are difficult to grow and help in conservation efforts especially of endemic species.

Minister Payet noted that the garden project started last year as part of activities to mark the anniversary of the establishment of relations in 1998 between Seychelles and Thailand.

Minister Payet listed several areas of cooperation which Seychelles and Thailand have enjoyed over the years, noting that Thailand was among the first countries to assist Seychelles following the December 2004 tsunami by donating $30,000 to the government and people of Seychelles.
 
“Seychelles and Thailand are also keen to explore other areas of cooperation for the future such as in health and potential training programmes as well as collaboration with our university here,” added Minister Payet.

The minister paid tribute to the Thai community in Seychelles, especially in the fisheries sector, who were also present at the ceremony and noted the influence of the Thai way of life which is slowly influencing ours. He made reference to Thai food and cuisine which he said will now become more evident with the opening of this Thai garden.

“The spices grown here will be available for sale and at this point I would like to call on restaurants, hotels and other tourism establishments to get their fresh spices from this garden and at the same time financially support this initiative which will help in the maintenance and growth of this garden in Seychelles,” Minister Payet said.

Referring to the micro-propagation and tissue culture laboratory -- the second component of the Thai garden project -- Minister Payet said apart from assisting the NBGF and guaranteeing the conservation of the endemic species, it will also assist with other types of research in order to further increase the knowledge of plant diagnostic in Seychelles. The laboratory has been fully funded by the Kingdom of Thailand.

Dr Vessabutr said staff of the NBGF will be undergoing capacity building training at the Thai botanical garden in the concept of the Thai conservation programme.

Ambassador Boonpracong said yesterday’s event was a time to celebrate the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Expressing his excitement at seeing the Thai garden, the ambassador noted that more than 10,000 plants have been shipped over from Thailand to create such an attraction.

He commended the good cooperation and hard work of the staff of the NBGF and the Thai team for such a venture.

Mr Brioche described the official opening of the Thai Seychelles Garden as an important milestone in the friendship between Thailand and Seychelles.

He said that a little bit of Thailand has been opened right here on our islands and called on plants and culinary enthusiasts to admire, learn and sample the different species found here.

The ceremony ended with entertainment by staff of the NBGF and the Thai team.

The garden consists of plants from Thailand, South East Asia which has the world’s largest orchids, as well as from Seychelles itself. The plants include various kind of orchids, kitchen mint, hairy basil, sweet basil, windbetal leafbash, lime and common lime, Indian borage, among many others.

Guests touring the garden