The Assistant Director-General and Regional Director of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for Africa, Mr. Aeneas Chapinga Chuma, paid a courtesy call on President James Michel today at State House.
Mr. Chuma is on an official visit in the Seychelles where he attended the annual meeting of Chief Technical Advisors of Projects for the Africa Region and met with senior officials in the Government as well as other partners.
The President welcomed Mr. Chuma to his first visit in Seychelles and conveyed his gratitude to ILO for its considerable technical assistance given in support of various projects. Mr. Michel expressed his wish that Mr. Chuma’s visit will strengthen the partnership that already exist between Seychelles and ILO.
“It is a pleasure to welcome you and your delegation to Seychelles. I would like to thank the ILO for its support and major role in assisting the Government of Seychelles through the provision of technical assistance and others. Seychelles has been able to meet all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and we would like to build up on what we have started. We are looking forward to have your views after your meetings and see how Seychelles and ILO can strengthen collaboration,” said President Michel.
The President and Mr. Chuma discussed various areas in relations to labour such as the Blue Economy concept, “My first job” scheme as international labour developments. Mr. Chuma also briefed the President on the various meetings he has held with government officials.
Speaking to the national media, Mr. Chama said ILO has a very good relationship with the Seychelles over many decades and his visit is aimed at consolidating that partnership. He further stated that it has been both an opportunity for dialogue and also an occasion to learn from the Seychelles some of the issues that exist and that are relevant to the international organization.
“There are several areas that we, ILO, and Seychelles are working on, such as the revision of the Labour Law, employment issues, social dialogue between the social partners, questions on youth employment and generally try to work with Seychelles to support all its formulation in areas at an international level... We’ve also learnt a lot, for example, the comprehensive social protection and social workforce system in the Seychelles that is important and critical and can be shared with other countries as well. There are not many countries with such comprehensive social work programme,” said Mr. Chuma.
Also present at the meeting were the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport, Mr. Joel Morgan, Minister for Labour and Human Resources Development, Ms. Idith Alexander, Principal Secretary for Labour and Human Resource Development, Ms. Veronique Bresson, the President's Diplomatic Adviser, Ambassador Callixte d'Offay, ILO Director Country Office in Antananarivo, Madagascar, Mr Christian Ntsay and Mr Chuma’s Special Advisor, Mr Geir Tonstol.