President Danny Faure received the Secretary General of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), Dr Patrick Gomes, at State House today. Dr Gomes is in Seychelles on an official visit to further discuss follow up actions by the ACP Secretariat for implementation of the ACP Negotiating Mandate for the Post Cotonou Partnership Agreement.

The Head of State welcomed Dr Gomes to Seychelles and commended him for his excellent leadership at the helm of the ACP, especially in this very important period when negotiations for the Post Cotonou is due to commence.

In his turn, on behalf of the ACP, Dr Gomes expressed his appreciation for the work that Seychelles has been doing on the international arena, particularly in the promotion of the Blue Economy concept. He further noted Seychelles' important role in championing the Post Cotonou partnership agreement between the 79 ACP countries and the 27 member states of the European Union. He added that such agreement will help countries like Seychelles in the area of trade, investment, services and industrialisation.

The President reiterated Seychelles faith in the ACP as an organization and his belief in the need for unity and solidarity of the group for the organization to move forward and reach even greater heights. He underlined Seychelles' strong support to the idea of a unified ACP because as a Small Island Developing State, it has its own specificities and fragility issues to advocate for and the ACP is a solid platform where islands' voices are heard and taken into consideration.

In his remarks to the press after the meeting, Dr Gomes said that he looks forward to the agreement and that he is pleased to know that there is blue economy research going on at the University of Seychelles, which can be an add up to technology transfer in future cooperation.

Editor's Note:

- The ACP Group consists of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an organisation created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. It is composed of 79 African, Caribbean and Pacific states, with all of them, save Cuba, signatories to the Cotonou Agreement, also known as the "ACP-EC Partnership Agreement" which binds them to the European Union. There are 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean and 15 from the Pacific.