Seychelles hailed in many aspects of its development and meeting of SADC targets
Wed, 19 August 2015 | Foreign Affairs
Vice President Danny Faure led the Seychelles delegation in the proceedings of closed session stage of the Summit. He took the floor to deliberate on the issue of the of the implementation of the industrialization strategy road map, where he recognized industrialization of the SADC region as a whole as an important driver for economic development of all member countries. In his intervention, the Vice President noted that the national development policies are paramount to our national development agendas, and should successfully integrate into the SADC industrial framework.
He further noted that the ocean has a large role to play in the industrialization of the SADC region with enormous potential for value addition within the fisheries sector, sustainable oil and mineral extraction, sustainable energy production and maritime transport, a concept which the country embraces through its Blue Economy initiative. He stressed on the importance of the SADC industrialization strategy and roadmap in taking into account the challenges posed to island nations like Seychelles.
Seychelles was commended for the significant improvement in its various indicators reflecting socio - economic development as well as in addressing gender equality, in line with established SADC programs and targets. In that context, VP Faure informed Summit that Seychelles is on target to achieve the 50% debt to GDP ratio by 2018, in line with set SADC targets. The Summit commended Seychelles for appointing its first woman Chief Justice, a decision viewed as a significant step forward in the involvement of women in important decision making  positions.
The Vice President signed the SADC Youth Development And Empowerment Declaration which has the objective of addressing as a matter of urgency, the issue of youth development and Empowerment in the context of regional integration, development and peace and security in the region.The delegation endorsed the initiative to recognise the Invaluable contribution of liberation movements of the Southern African region in the struggle for decolonization and independence of countries of the region. It complements the recently completed Hashim Mbita project, which is a publication compiling the achievements of the liberation movements in the southern and eastern African region.
The Seychelles delegation also expressed its firm support of the Summit's declaration to endorse international calls for the United Kingdom to end its unlawful occupation of the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, with a view to enabling the Republic of Mauritius to effectively exercise its sovereignty over the Archipelago.