SEYCHELLES AND REUNION SIGN COOPERATION PACT UNDER NEW EU RULES
(Posted 24th October 2017)
Reunion’ regional president Mr. Didier Robert yesterday signed an extensive cooperation agreement with the Seychelles’ government at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Victoria, to ring in a new phase of working together under this scheme: INTERREG V Indian Ocean.
The French Indian Ocean island will also open a formal office in Victoria in due course it was learned.
$74 million was allocated by the European Union to strengthen partnerships with countries in the southern Indian Ocean which include the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Mozambique, Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Australia, as well as the French Southern and Antarctic Lands.
Notably with the Seychelles – Reunion cooperation be worth 11.8 million Euros and cover projects the two will decide upon in coming weeks.
The two partners already cooperate closely, both in bilateral terms and via the Vanilla Islands platform, in the field of tourism where in recent years air connectivity has been vastly improved with direct flights by Air Austral – Reunion’s home airline – and also by promoting inter island visits including incorporating both destinations in cruise itineraries.
President Didier Robert was in the Seychelles for the launch of the 2017 edition of the Festival Kreol which is now underway until the 31st of October and which this year will incorporate the Seychelles Carnival, another event regularly attend by and even co-hosted by Reunion in the past. He also paid an official visit to President Danny Rollen Faure at State House Victoria before returning home to Reunion.
For more information about the two destinations click on www.reunion.fr and www.seychelles.travel
