Vice President Danny Faure to lead the Seychelles delegation at the 35th Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in Botswana
Sat, 15 August 2015 | Foreign Affairs
Vice President Danny Faure will be representing President James Michel to the 35th annual SADC Summit being held from the 17th to the 18th of August 2015, in Gaborone, Botswana. The Seychelles delegation consists of Minister Joel Morgan, Principal Secretary Jeanne Simeon, Ambassador Claude Morel, Permanent representative to SADC, and other senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy.
This year's theme which has been dubbed as "Accelerating industrialization of SADC economies through transformation of natural endowment and improved human capital", highlights the strong importance that the region is giving to the industrialization strategies being pursued in order to create more dynamic capabilities within industries of respective member states and consequently improving the overall industrial efficiency of the region as a whole.
The Summit is being preceded by the Council of Ministers meeting being held from the 14th to the 15th of August 2015, where the Seychelles delegation is being led by Mr. Joel Morgan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Transport. Minister Morgan took the opportunity to confirm Seychelles' ratification of the SADC Protocol on Trade, which concluded the country's accession process to the Community's Free Trade Area (FTA). In his intervention, he expressed his sincere gratitude towards the SADC members and the SADC Secretariat for the cooperative manner in which they approached the accession of Seychelles and their understanding for the country's sensitivities and vulnerabilities as a small island developing state.
Amongst a number of other issues of national importance being discussed in the meeting, is that of funding possibilities for regional infrastructure projects, where Seychelles is actively pursuing opportunities for funding for national priority projects.