Sustained help vital to uphold progress made

Proud of its achievements in meeting almost all the targets of the Millennium Development Goals, Seychelles will keep on ensuring the international community recognises the importance of continued financial help for countries to sustain their progress.

This is important because otherwise the developments many countries, especially small

island states have succeeded in achieving on the MDGs, will stall and they will revert back to poverty if they do not continue to get further financial help to sustain their achievements and continued progress, President James Michel has said.

Mr Michel was speaking during his monthly interview En Moman Avek Prezidan aired on SBC television yesterday evening.

In this month’s interview, President Michel talked about Seychelles’ achievements on meeting the targets of the MDGs and also the challenges it faces to sustain these successes and move towards further development.

Mr Michel was speaking only a week after heads of States and of governments met for a summit convened by the United Nations to evaluate progress their respective countries have made on the MDGs and the challenges they are facing in the process.
Seychelles was represented at the September 20-22 summit in New York by Vice-President Danny Faure.

“It was with much pride that we informed the United Nations of our success in achieving almost all of the targets of the MDGs,” said Mr Michel.

The eight MDGs are:
• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality rate
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/Aids, malaria, and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development

The goals were agreed on by the United Nations member states and international organisations in 2000 and they were to be achieved by the year 2015.

Mr Michel said the summit was necessary and important to evaluate progress countries have made and challenges they are facing, as well as to assess the impact of the financial, fuel and food crises the world had grappled with during the past few years on their ability to meet the MDG targets. 

Mr Michel noted that Seychelles also suffered from the effects of these crises on its progress and development but at the same time these challenges have pushed us and provided us with the opportunity to move with more determination and courage and have strengthened our resolve to meet several of the goals faster.

In the area of education and health for instance, Mr Michel said Seychelles have done well even before the UN set these targets. He noted that this is because it has always been our vision to give each Seychellois equal opportunity in education and this is what we have been doing for many years now.

As for health, Seychelles is among few countries which give their people free access to healthcare.

Seychelles, with 47% of its  territory reserved for environment conservation, is also a leader in environment protection and will continue to push this leadership to achieve a target of above 50%, Mr Michel said.

In terms of gender equality, Seychelles is also an example for the world where men and women have the same opportunity in education and employment. The country has done a lot to empower its whole population to drive for development in these areas.

Infant and maternal mortality rates have gone down considerably compared to many other countries.

Mr Michel noted that Seychelles has not only recorded great achievement on many of the targets but is ahead of many of them.

“This is why we have informed the UN and the UNDP that we are working towards new targets : the MDG+ which have among its main aims to ensure a very high level of education, more women in key positions in government and ensure better health for our environment,” said Mr Michel.

On the economic front, the reforms the country carried out to meet the world economic challenges have opened avenues to meet the MDGs economic targets.

“Today Seychelles has put in place structures and mechanisms to guide its development towards the MDG+,” said the President.

Asked whether Seychelles has not become a victim of its development now that it has been classified as a middle income country and no longer qualifies for concessionary help from international organisations in view of the level of its development, Mr Michel agreed that as a result of that, countries like Seychelles have to turn to commercial institutions for help and this is very costly and difficult and it affects further progress and development of small island states in particular.

This is why, he said, Seychelles will remain a leader in ensuring that the international community and institutions realise the importance of maintaining financial help for sustainability of progress and development achieved by these countries.

After reaching the middle income level, countries should on their own also be able to develop new mechanisms and explore new ways and opportunities in order to face new challenges, said Mr Michel.

In line with that, he pointed out that over the past five years Seychelles has placed a lot of emphasis on developing partnerships with other countries which are ready to help us by investing here.

He noted that Seychelles’ active diplomacy has also proved very effective as we turn to new partners like Gulf countries, China, India and South Africa.

“Developing commercial relations and investment partnerships with these countries are important to help us fund our development projects and ensure our further progress,” said Mr Michel.

Asked whether Seychelles is ready to move towards MDG+, Mr Michel said the country is well placed to move forward as it has done well and achieved most of the MDG targets and therefore it cannot stall.

“Its development has to continue,” said Mr Michel, adding that the commitment Seychelles has set will bring more development and allow for Seychellois to be more responsible and assume more ownership of the new economic environment being developed.

 

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