New Romanian ambassador discusses potential partnership in education and tourism |04 October 2022

Ambassador Sitaru in talks with President Ramkalawan after having presented her credentials (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

The newly accredited Romanian ambassador to Seychelles, Monica-Cecilia Sitaru, has said her country and Seychelles have discussed potential partnership in the fields of education and tourism.

Mrs Sitaru made the comment after presenting her credentials to President Wavel Ramkawalan at State House yesterday morning.

She is her country’s second ambassador to be accredited to Seychelles, after her predecessor, Marius Boranescu in 2019, and described the relationship between Seychelles and Romania as very good.

Mrs Sitaru said the discussions with the Seychelles’ Head of State focused on how the two countries could consolidate this relation, as well as how to diversify their bilateral and sectoral cooperation.

President Ramkalawan and Ambassador Sitaru broached the possible partnership in the fields of education and tourism.

“I shared with the president the similarities in tourism between Romania and Seychelles. In Romania we share the Black Sea and the Danube delta, recognised by Unesco as a world heritage site, similar with Seychelles, which also has two world heritage sites, Aldabra and Vallée De Mai,” said ambassador Sitaru.

She added that in the past year, Seychelles has also become an attractive destination for more Romanian tourists.

With the operation of charters last year, a total of 1,199 visitors from Romania travelled to Seychelles between April and June.

In July last year, a crew from the Romanian television, PROTV, was also in Seychelles to produce a programme, in partnership with the local Tourism department, and Eturia, the tour operator behind the charters, to entice Romanian visitors to travel to the Indian Ocean island.

Yesterday’s talks also focused on how to extend the trade and economic relations as well as cooperation between their ministries of foreign affairs.

The Republic of Seychelles and Romania established diplomatic relations on July 30, 1976.

The newly accredited ambassador will be based in Pretoria, South Africa.

Patsy Canaya