Financing and development of blue economy projects focus of talks

How to create attractive, bankable, and sustainable projects in the blue economy sector and how to secure funding for these projects were among the issues Justin Mundy discussed with President James Michel yesterday.

Mr Mundy, the director of the Prince of Wales Sustainability Unit, paid a courtesy call on President James Michel at State House yesterday morning.

Acknowledging the fact that President Michel has a long track record of demonstrating leadership on environmental issues more particularly in relation to the blue economy Mr Mundy said : “We are delighted to work with him and his ministerial team to help increase efforts in that aspect.”

Asked about any forthcoming help from the Unit in any particular sector, Mr Mundy said Seychelles already has “enormous capacity and capability but the fact that it is quite tricky to bring in new finance for sustainable marine fisheries development, we are hoping to be able to facilitate some of that”.
He noted that the main aim of his visit was to explore ways and discuss how to develop financing for the blue economy.

During his visit Mr Mundy also held talks with the Minister for Finance, Trade and The Blue Economy, Jean-Paul Adam and the Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture Wallace Cosgrow.
A team of consultants from the Unit will be working here towards the middle of the year to gather data relating to the blue economy financing.

“We are trying to help create projects which are sufficiently attractive for different types of investors; institutional investors, pension funds, insurance companies and banks. In the next few months, with the help of the Unit Seychelles will be able to come up with a number of projects which can be developed that are sufficiently bankable to provide the returns required to attract investment but always focused on sustainable marine fisheries.

His Royal Highness Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales established the International Sustainability Unit in 2010 to address critical challenges to development and the environment facing the world.

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