Ongoing cooperation projects as well as a new fisheries grant proposal were the focus of talks between President James Michel and the senior vice-president of Japanese International Cooperation Agency (Jica), Hideaki Domichi, during the former’s working visit to Japan this week.

During the meeting Mr Domichi said that more emphasis will be placed on private sector partnership with Japanese companies encouraged to invest in Seychelles, as part of Japanese policy to encourage its small and medium-size businesses to invest and do business abroad.

Mr Domichi confirmed that Jica will send a fisheries mission to Seychelles in August to conduct a feasibility study for the extension of the Providence fishing port, which forms part of a Seychelles request for a 7th Fisheries Grant from the Japanese government.

“We value the friendship and cooperation of the government of Japan. We have a long tradition of partnership, particularly in fishing and we welcome the continued assistance of Japan in this field,” said President Michel.

“The fisheries projects of the Japanese government in Seychelles have been important for the empowerment of our fishermen, as they have found the Providence artisanal fishing port a great benefit to their work. The further extension of this port would be of additional value to the fishermen in order to extend the type of activities, such as fish processing and value-added activities that can be conducted there,” added the President.

To date, Seychelles has received a total of six fishing grants since 1980 worth over R190 million. These grants have assisted significantly in developing this sector by improving Seychelles’ fishing quays and facilities, storage capacity, fishing techniques and vessels.

Jica is currently conducting surveys on coastal erosion and flood control in Seychelles since 2009, and this project was extended following the flooding disaster which occurred on Mahé and La Digue in January 2013.

The President thanked Jica for this technical assistance, as well as the work being done to provide means to mitigate coastal erosion.

Discussions were also focused on the implementation of joint renewable energy projects, as the President expressed Seychelles’ openness towards investment in the clean energy sector.

“Solar energy is the way forward for energy provision and we invite Japanese firms to assess the viability of commercial projects for solar energy provision in Seychelles,” said the President.

In December 2012 Seychelles received a visit from Japan’s Okinawa Enetech for the mission to formulate Japan’s development assistance project for photo-voltaic system to produce solar energy, which will be partly funded by the government of Japan.

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