Signing of the Minutes of Meeting of the Seychelles – South Africa 3rd Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation

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On Friday, 14th October 2022, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Mr Sylvestre Radegonde and the Deputy Minister of the International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of the Republic of South Africa, Ms Candith Mashego-Dlamini, met at Maison Quéau de Quinssy to deliberate over the report of the Seychelles-South Africa 3rd Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation held in July 2022 in Seychelles and officially sign the Minutes of Meeting of the Seychelles – South Africa 3rd Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation.

In his opening remarks, Minister Radegonde stated: “This session is another testament to the strong bonds of friendship and commitment to bringing renewed momentum to the bilateral relationship between our two countries”.

The Minister further added, “I believe that we must seize every opportunity to engage with each other through various multilateral institutions and fora, such as the United Nations and the African Union, as a means to consolidate our relation in these challenging times, to stand tall together, to support each other, to articulate and defend our common positions”.

On her part, Deputy Minister Mashego-Dlamini reaffirmed South Africa’s desire to further enhance and consolidate the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation between the two countries. She reiterated the South African’s gratitude to the Seychelles Government and its people for their support during the struggle against Apartheid following Seychelles’ Independence in 1976.

This year will mark 29 years since Seychelles and South Africa established diplomatic relations, and throughout the years, there has been cooperation across several sectors. However, both parties agreed that there exist avenues to continue to build on collaborations in key sectors, including health, tourism, civil aviation, education, defence, police, immigration, arts, culture and heritage.

Following the approval of the Minutes of Meeting by both parties, Minister Radegonde and Deputy Minister Mashego-Dlamini proceeded to officially sign the document in a short ceremony.

Minister Radegonde was accompanied by Ambassador Vivianne Fock Tave, Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mrs Sherin Francis, Principal Secretary for Tourism, Ms. Lindy Ernesta, Director General of the Bilateral Affairs and other senior officials of Seychelles’ Foreign Affairs Department.

The South African delegation comprised the High Commissioner of South Africa to the Republic of Seychelles, H.E Dr Hlamalani Nelly Manzini, Chief Director: East Africa, Ms Tselane Mokuena, Ms. Bulelwa Kiva, Director for the Horn of Africa and Indian Ocean Islands and other officials from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) of South Africa.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tourism - Foreign Affairs Department, Republic of Seychelles.