Seychellois passport holders will now be able to travel to Turkey visa free for a period of up to 90 days.

This follows the signing this week of a visa waiver agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the government of Turkey.

The agreement, signed by Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Paul Adam and the Turkish ambassador to Seychelles, Tuncer Kayalar, at the ministry’s headquarters, has been described by the ambassador as a clear indication of the growing cooperation, “the will, desire, and commitment to further enhance relations” between the two countries.

The ambassador also added he was happy to see bilateral trade relations between Seychelles and Turkey growing rapidly, notably an increase from US $2 million to US $9 million in trade over recent years.

Minister Adam said that the government of Turkey has been an excellent partner to Seychelles and described the relationship as that of “two emerging countries of different sizes who can achieve much together”.

The Minister added that there has been a marked increase in the presence of Turkish products on the local market and said that the two partners were exploring other areas of cooperation such as in fisheries and tourism.

Mr Kayalar said that, even though Seychelles does not have a visa regime in place for Turkish visitors, this new agreement will help highlight that to the Turkish people and will allow for more tourists to visit Seychelles which will in turn bring about a more balanced and mutually beneficial relationship.

Turkey and Seychelles established diplomatic relations on June 22, 1995.
Since 2000, Turkey has provided higher education scholarships to almost 2000 students from African countries. There are currently two Seychellois students studying in Turkey.

The government of Turkey also donated all the furniture for the new Au Cap primary school that was opened in October 2010.

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