New Delhi: External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar will be the first in-person’s visit to Seychelles since the Covid-19 pandemic.
He will be reaching Seychelles on November 27 on a 2-day official tour, wherein he will meet the newly elected president and his counterpart.
Indian-origin Wavel Ramkalawan was elected as the President of Seychelles in October this year.
Mr Ramakalwan is a priest of Indian Origin whose grandfather came from Gopalganj in Bihar.
As per an official it would be the first high level interaction after the national elections in the country.
Dr Jaishankar will meet the president and present greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Seychelles is under strict quarantine norms even then it has made an exemption allowing the visit to take place.
It is also the first high level visit since the new President took over.
Since the introduction of the multiparty democracy in 1993, all previous governments in Seychelles have followed an ‘India First’ policy.
Seychelles was the first destination of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Indian Ocean tour in 2015 after which he also visited Sri Lanka and Mauritius.
This was the first Prime Ministerial level visit to Seychelles after a gap of 33 years.
India has tried to broad base its relationship through our development cooperation and assistance in the form of grants and concessional loans, an official said.
Out of the 5 National Priority projects, India’s support for the 3 projects has been publicly announced during the visit of President of Seychelles to India in June 2018.
The 3 National Priority Projects (NPPs) – construction of a new Government House (USD 63.66 Million), Police Headquarters (USD 13.92 million) and Attorney General’s office (USD 13.38 million) are being implemented.
A Magistrate Court building project is under construction in Seychelles.
India has extended cash grant of USD 3.5 mn in June 2017 for the project.
The project began in September 2018 and the construction has been competed in October 2020.
Phase 1 of the High Impact Community Development (HICDP) is currently under implementation in Seychelles with GoI grant assistance.
19 projects out of the 33 projects have been completed.
“A project for installation of 1 MW ground mounted Solar PV system at Romainville Island is currently underway and nearly complete,” he said.
Seychelles was among the first few countries to receive support from India in the fight against Covid-19 which included over 4 tonnes of life saving medicines including 50,000 tablets of HCQ.
