- The President of the Republic of India, H.E. Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, has today concluded her two day State Visit to Seychelles with a visit to the Indian Surveillance Dornier stationed at Seychelles Peoples Defence Force's Air Wing, before departing from Seychelles International Airport following a farewell ceremony with President James Alix Michel.

President Patil, who was accompanied by the Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Mr. Sachin Pilot, was given a tour of the airwing by the Minister for Home Affairs and Transport, Mr. Joel Morgan, and the Chief of Defence, Brigadier Leopold Payet, among other high ranking officials.

The Indian Dornier is currently stationed in Seychelles and manned by an Indian crew to carry out maritime security surveillance missions and to train their local counterparts for the arrival of a new Dornier gifted by the Indian Government to the SPDF which is expected before the end of the year.

Speaking of the State Visit to Seychelles, Minister Pilot said that he was impressed with the natural beauty of Seychelles and even more so with the spirit of the people and Government of Seychelles.

"It is also my first visit here and I see tremendous potential not just in the tourism area, but also in the trade and commerce we could have... the undersea optical fibre arriving soon will really bring up the connectivity of Seychelles to global standards and I look forward to that day so Indian businesses can participate here," said the Minister.

Speaking about the future of India-Seychelles relations the Minister also highlighted renewable energy and trade as two key areas with untapped potential:

"I can assure you that India will do our part to make sure we go forward together as equal partners. We share the same ocean though we are a different size and scale but as two sovereign countries we have an example to show the world of how two peoples and two countries can work together."

President Patil and her delegation were seen off by President Michel and the Seychelles Cabinet of Ministers, as well as the speaker, the Chief Justice, and other high level members of the Seychelles farewell delegation.