The first Cabinet Meeting of 2017 started with a minute's silence in honour of the late Former President James Mancham who passed away on Sunday.

The Agenda for the meeting included a presentation by the Secretary of State for Prevention of Drug Abuse and Rehabilitation, on the current situation regarding the drugs problem in Seychelles, and on new strategies necessary for addressing the problem effectively.

Cabinet was also briefed by the Governor of the Central Bank on steps that were necessary to address the situation of so-called derisking actions taken by banks locally and overseas to close accounts that were suspected of being used for illicit purposes, or to refuse to open new accounts in cases of clients considered to be a risk factor.  Cabinet noted that the Seychelles offshore industry needed more robust regulatory mechanisms to avoid Seychelles and Seychellois from being negatively impacted by de-risking by overseas financial institutions.

Cabinet also discussed the principles of a public private partnership initiative to provide central common cold storage facilities of up to 12,000 tonnes for fishing enterprises based at Île du Port.  It was suggested that Government would initially hold 40% shares in the company set up for the project, with the possibility of selling its shares to the public in due course.

Cabinet advised that measures be taken to improve the system of social protection to make it more focussed and effective.

Cabinet approved for work to start on National Development Plan for the period 2018-22.