Seychelles and Rostov-on-Don sign twinning agreement |17 December 2021
The signing of the agreement (Photo: Louis Toussaint)
The Mayor of Victoria David Andre signed a Twinning Agreement on Establishing Friendly Exchange City Relations between the town of Victoria, Seychelles, and the city of Rostov-on-Don, in Russia, at his office yesterday morning.
The agreement seeks to promote and extend friendship links between the peoples of the Republic of Seychelles and the Russian Federation, on the basis of equality and mutual benefit for both cities. It is based on the interest to expand mutually beneficial cooperation in a wide variety of economic, educational, scientific, cultural and sports endeavours, and to foster beneficial urban management solutions.
As explained by Mayor Andre, twinning agreements present numerous advantages, paving the way for less bureaucracy and protocols between the two governments.
The agreement offers much more opportunities which will enable both cities to identify activities that can generate new initiatives to further nurture the economic, social and cultural ties which Russia and Seychelles share.
“One of the direct or immediate benefits we stand to gain is tourism. We can expect more visitors from Rostov, for them to be more aware about Victoria and Seychelles. We can also benefit culturally, in the education sector as well we can share certain things while we learn from them on how to better implement things in our own countries,” Mr Andre explained.
In addition to tourism, Seychelles can also benefit by having students study in Russia, as Rostov-on-Don currently accommodates over 250,000 students at the various universities in the district.
Medical tourism is also one of the avenues expected to be especially beneficial to citizens of the Seychelles islands.
The twinning agreement is the second signed by Victoria with a city of the Russian Federation. The first was signed with the city of Moscow in 1998. Also signed in 2004 was a Protocol on Cooperation in the field of environment protection between the Department for Nature Use and Environmental Protection of Moscow City and the Association of the Districts of Victoria.
The initiative for the latest agreement stems from the Russia Africa Summit which was held in Sochi, Russia in 2019, and which served to strengthen ties between Russia and African states.
Rostov-on-Don is a large city in the South of Russia with a population of 1.3 million people. It is a stronghold of the agricultural and industrial sector, and has a booming economy. In this year alone, investments in the city have surpassed US $1.7 billion.
Also present for the signing was Minister for Local Government and Community Affairs Rose-Marie Hoareau, principal secretary for the ministry Kevin Perrine and officials from the department of Foreign Affairs. Seychelles honorary consul in Moscow Dmitry Kislov was also in attendance.
Laura Pillay
