United Nations Headquarters, New York: On the sidelines of the 74th UNGA, the President of the Republic of Seychelles, Mr Danny Faure, yesterday afternoon attended the Sustainable Development Goals Summit: UN High-Level Leaders Forum Dialogue 5 themed ‘Partnerships for Sustainable Development Goals.’

Delivering his remarks at the forum, President Faure stressed on the importance of building partnerships for the successful implement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). “Governance is the key means of implementation of the SDGs but no country stands alone. Partnerships are required, especially taking into account the inherent challenges experienced by Small Island Developing States” said President Faure.

In an effort to revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development, President Faure shared how Seychelles has carried out a Global Partnership monitoring exercise round by recognising the work being done by bilateral and multilateral organisations nationally and internationally, the private sector, civil society, parliaments, and NGOs in order to strengthen the effectiveness of the country-level partnerships.

“As an advocate and global champion of the Blue Economy, we continuously work towards developing and promoting this sector. Through technical assistance from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, a monetary package was allocated for the improvement of conservation and management of Seychelles’ marine resources as well as expanding seafood value chains. This does not only provide expertise for the sustainable use of our oceans, but protects the livelihoods of our people as they are strategically at the centre of the country’s development” said the President.

The President highlighted that a multi-stakeholder approach involves working with a multitude of partners with different objectives for the country. However he cautioned that while having many partnerships benefits the country, it also brings about significant challenges hence also stressed on how critical is it to aligning the different objectives and having a clearly defined strategic framework that would in return ensure shared vision and well-defined targets in line with the country’s development.