President of Seychelles invited to visit Turkey, visiting delegation says

The delegation met with Seychelles' President Danny Faure at State House in Victoria. (Thomas Meriton)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Building ties in the fields of tourism, energy and health are what Turkey is hoping to establish with Seychelles, said the head of the first Turkish delegation ever to the island nation on Thursday.

The delegation met with the Seychelles' President Danny Faure at State House in Victoria, the capital.  

"Energy is a field that we know a lot about and we want to share our expertise with Seychelles. We had some business people in the meeting which had introduced themselves and what they can do," said the head of the delegation, Bekir Kuvvet Erim.

Talking about tourism, Kuvvet Erim said that Seychelles is "a champion in this field and we want to learn some important marketing skills that it uses to encourage tourist to come to the country.” 

Tourism is the top contributor to the economy of Seychelles -- a 115 island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean. In October 2016, Turkish Airlines started operating thrice-weekly flights to the island nation. In December last year, the two countries signed an air service agreement at the annual Air Services Negotiation conference in Nairobi, Kenya.

The head of the Turkish delegation added that the visit is a historical one because this is the first time that a diverse delegation including businessmen, parliamentarians and people from the military come to Seychelles.

"The main idea is to also hold a business forum in Seychelles in order to develop our economic and trade corporation," said Kuvvet Erim.

On his side, Faure expressed Seychelles’ willingness to further develop cooperation ties between Seychelles and Turkey.

“Seychelles and Turkey share a very active and dynamic cooperation agenda. Turkey has been instrumental to our socio-economic progress including the reinforcing of our human resources and financing of certain important projects. I am happy to see a representation of various sectors in your delegation today and I hope you have fruitful discussions during your stay in Seychelles,” said the President

Trade and military cooperation also topped the agenda during the discussion between Faure and the Turkish delegation. 

Kuvvet Erim said that he has conveyed an invitation from the Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan to Faure to visit Turkey. 

The delegation is expected to participate in various discussions and meetings with the opportunity to engage with their Seychelles counterparts.

Seychelles and Turkey established diplomatic ties on June 22, 1995.