Assembly delegation back from official visit to India |16 August 2013

A four-member delegation from the National Assembly’s international affairs committee (IAC) is back in the country following a four-day official visit to India.

The visit, organised by the Lok Sabha secretariat from August 5-8, followed the official visit of former President of India, Prathibha Patil, in April, 2012.

The delegation was led by Deputy Speaker Andre Pool, who is also the chairperson of the IAC.  Other members included leader of the opposition David Pierre, Pointe Larue representative Jeniffer Vel and the committee’s secretary Luisa Waye-Hive.

The aim of the visit was to pave the way for strengthening parliamentary ties between the National Assembly and the parliament of India.

During the visit, the delegation met high level parliamentary officials and paid a courtesy call on the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar.  

While Seychelles and India share an excellent relationship, the meeting noted the need for such relationship to be extended between the parliaments of the two countries. It was, therefore proposed that a working visit to the parliament of India for committees of the National Assembly be facilitated with the aim of drawing on the expertise and enhancing the capacity of the different committees.

Speaker Kumar also extended training opportunities for members and staff of the National Assembly. The training is organised by the Bureau of Parliamentary Study and Training (BPST) at the parliament of India.

The delegation also held meetings with the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, the Minister for External Affairs, the speaker of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly, the chairman of the standing committee on finance, the chairman of the public accounts committee, and the chairman of the standing committee on external affairs.

Mr Pool has described the visit as very fruitful, saying that “our cooperation with the parliament of India will strengthen the capacity building of the National Assembly”.
Seychelles high commissioner to India, Waven William, also accompanied the delegation to the meetings.