The relationship between Seychelles and Palau has reached a new height with the signing yesterday morning at State House of two agreements on general cooperation and short stay visa waiver.

Foreign Affairs and Transport Minister Joël Morgan signed on the part of Seychelles and Hersey Kyota, ambassador of Palau to the United States, signed for his country in the presence of President James Michel and Palau President Tommy Remengesau Jr.

The signing followed a tête-à-tête between President Remengesau and President Michel before they were joined by officials on both sides for a bilateral meeting held in the Salon des Gouverneurs.

President Michel and President Remengesau then exchanged gifts as the two island states set to forge closer ties and strengthen their newly-established diplomatic relations.

Speaking to the local media Minister Morgan said President Remengesau’s visit has helped to renew and strengthen the bonds of friendship between two small island states that have been at the forefront of the climate change, environment and conservation battles and of course the Blue Economy concept.

According to Minister Morgan under the short stay visa waiver agreement Seychellois visitors and businessmen can now go to Palau for a 30-day stay without a visa. Palau is the 127th country with whom Seychelles has signed visa waiver agreements and Minister Morgan has said more such agreements will be signed soon.

“Although it is not expected that there will be a huge number of visitors between our two countries, Seychelles is always ready to open itself to other small island developing states,” said Minister Morgan, adding that President Remengesau has said “we are small countries but we are large ocean states”.

As for the general cooperation agreement it opens the possibility to allow bilateral cooperation between the two sides in several areas like social, economic, cultural, political, foreign policy, tourism, commerce, and fisheries to be signed in the future.

Minister Morgan said Presidents Michel and Remengesau talked a lot about the measures the two countries are taking to preserve the environment, sustainable fishing, renewable energy, sustainable tourism, policies put in place during the economic reforms Seychelles undertook in 2008, and empowering small and medium size businesses especially in the tourism sector, 

“We spent a lot of time discussing common issues, sharing experiences, looking at common problems that we are facing, looking at the challenges that we are facing and looking at the solutions Seychelles and Palau have individually come up with in order to be able to address a lot of these issues,” said Minister Morgan.

He added that there are a number of similarities in the approach and that Palau has learned a lot from us as we also have learned from them.

“Some interesting things Palau has shared with Seychelles are that 80% of its exclusive economic zone has been declared as protected areas to allow fish stocks to replenish, the ban on all fish aggregating devices, and no purse seiners are allowed to fish in their waters. On the other hand, long line fishing is permitted but certain types of hooks are not allowed to be used. They have also shared with us their tourism experience saying they have moved to new markets such as China, Japan, the United States of America and Europe. They have also had to limit the number of chartered flights by half as they could not handle the 150,000 visitors per year,” said Minister Morgan.

The two presidents also discussed the forthcoming Cop 21 United Nations climate change conference which will take place in Paris, France in December, the United Nations summit for the adoption of the post-2015 development agenda to be held in New York in September.

In a press statement issued by State House yesterday afternoon following the morning's meeting, President Michel described President Remengesau’s visit to Seychelles as “a historic milestone” in the relations between the two countries. 

“His presence among us is not only an opportunity for him to share in our festivities, to share our joy and achievements as a nation, but also an occasion to celebrate and strengthen even further the strong island kinship between our two brotherly countries and between islands everywhere,” said President Michel.

The statement added that the two leaders have agreed that “the close cooperation between Seychelles and Palau that is planned in the future” will be an example of collaboration between individual small island developing states adding that Seychelles and Palau will encourage such cooperation between other island nations.

“This type of cooperation should be replicated in the post-2015 era if small island countries or as we say ‘large ocean states’ are to benefit to the maximum from the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda, the sustainable development goals and the Paris climate change agreement as well as the SAMOA PATHWAY,” said President Michel.

For the Palauan president, the visit represents an opportunity which will allow the two island nations to share experiences and learn from each other’s best practices considering they face similar challenges.  

“…I am reminded that we share the same values; that the development of a nation rests on the benefits it can bring to the people and that sustainability is at the heart of our island nations. We seek to continue to bring the same message of island people to the world community and work together in close collaboration,” said President Remengesau.

Guest of honour for the National Day celebrated on June 29, President Remengesau will visit the Vallée de Mai today before leaving this afternoon.

Yesterday afternoon, President Remengesau was hosted to a lunch by Vice-President Danny Faure at the Savoy Seychelles Resort & Spa before National Assembly Speaker Dr Patrick Herminie, leader of government business Marie-Antoinette Rose and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly David Pierre paid courtesy calls on him.

Seychelles and Palau only established formal diplomatic ties earlier this year, although the two presidents have enjoyed close relations for a number of years.

President Michel and President Remengesau were the ones who called for the setting up of the Global Island Partnership (Glispa) in January 2005 during the second International Meeting of the Small Island Developing States held in the neighbouring Indian Ocean island of Mauritius.

Glispa is an open and voluntary platform for all islands and their supporters to work together to build resilient and sustainable island communities through innovative partnerships.
Both Palau and Seychelles are also members of the Alliance of Small Island States (Aosis).

Forrás: www.nation.sc