Brussels, Belgium 16 February: In the first of a series of bilateral meetings in Brussels Belgium, President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday morning (Wednesday 16 February) met with the Secretary General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS),  Ambassador Georges Chikoti.

The meeting was held at the OACPS Headquarters in Brussels. President Ramkalawan personally conveyed the country’s sincere appreciation to the SG and the organisation for the work being undertaken and for the excellent cooperation that exists between Seychelles and the OACPS.

“I am extremely happy to be here today and wish to express the appreciation of the Seychellois people for the efforts you have invested in leading the Organisation towards a new direction.  Your leadership seeks to maximise the role and visibility of the OACPS on the global stage which I am certain will bring added benefits to the organisation and surely take us to greater heights.

I call upon the Secretariat of the OACPS to raise greater visibility on priority issues important to SIDS, such as ocean governance, the blue economy, climate change, high indebtedness, access to climate finance, maritime security and most importantly the development of a vulnerability index,” said President Ramkalawan.

On his part Ambassador Chikoti, expressed how honoured they were at the OACPS Secretariat to receive the President of one of their member states and took the opportunity to brief the Head of State on their various priorities.

Both the President and the SG, Ambassador Chikoti, agreed that Seychelles as a SIDS, as well as other SIDS across the African, Caribbean and Pacific regions face very unique challenges which require specific interventions or designated programmes mandated to ensure that the urgent and critical issues faced by SIDS are addressed.