Maurice Loustau-Lalanne sworn in as new minister |31 December 2016

A day after his appointment as minister was approved by the National Assembly, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne was sworn into office in a ceremony at State House yesterday morning.

Previously secretary of state with specific responsibilities for health, Ambassador Loustau-Lalanne, 61, took the oath of allegiance, oath of office and oath of secrecy before President Danny Faure in a ceremony attended by Vice-President Vincent  Meriton, deputy speaker of the National Assembly Nicholas Prea,  president of the Court of Appeal Justice Francis McGregor, acting chief Justice of the Supreme Court Bernardin Renaud, Designated Minister Macsuzy Mondon, ministers, the leader of government business, other distinguished guests and family members of Ambassador Loustau-Lalanne.

Ambassador Loustau-Lalanne was appointed by President Faure earlier this week to take the post of Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine following the resignation of Alain St Ange as minister.

Occupying the position of secretary of state with specific responsibilities for health, Ambassador Loustau-Lalanne’s career in the public service spans over 40 years. He has a lot of experience in civil aviation having worked in air traffic control and airport management from 1975 up to 1986 when he became director general of civil aviation before being appointed Air Seychelles’ executive chairman in 1988.

Having witnessed the creation of Air Seychelles in 1982 and actively taking part in the pioneering role it played in the development of both the transport and tourism industry, Ambassador Loustau-Lalanne is currently the longest-serving director on the board of Air Seychelles which he joined in 1983.

Speaking to the press soon after taking his oaths, Minister Loustau-Lalanne said he never aspired to become a minister and the offer for the position came as a surprise to him.

“Some people told me that it is the culmination of my career in the public service and I agree with them as I think it is a good way to complete my career in the public service,” Mr Loustau-Lalanne said.

“I am really excited and enthusiastic about it and I hope I can improve on all the work that has been done by both Minister St Ange and Minister Morgan to consolidate and build Seychelles as we make progress in our development,” he added.

Mr Loustau-Lalanne, who has served as principal secretary in four other ministries namely environment, tourism and transport, foreign affairs and health, said he wants to look at ways to ensure that visitors spend more when they visit Seychelles.

With regard to increasing the number of tourism arrivals, Loustau-Lalanne said this will have to be looked at carefully and discussed with all local and international partners. More than 295,000 visitors arrived in the country before the end of the year.

“There is presently a moratorium on the construction of big hotels and this in itself begs the question as to whether our carrying capacity is saturated,” Minister Loustau-Lalanne said.

With regard to port and marine, Mr Loustau-Lalanne said “it is now urgent that we expand our commercial port for all our future development plans and projects”.

“If we want the economic development of Seychelles to improve we need to do that and it is a project that needs to be implemented as soon as possible,” he said adding that the Seychelles commercial port is not functioning to its full potential.

“We are very behind in this area and today we have a small port which cannot cater for the volume of business we receive. We need a bigger port and this should be done promptly,” he added.

As for civil aviation, Minister Loustau-Lalanne said the open sky policy has worked and has provided air access and has allowed Air Seychelles to compete with international airlines.

He went on to note that his focus will be to ensure the aviation sector in Seychelles remains safe, secure and reliable.