Malta and Seychelles to deepen cooperation in health and education sectors

The Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta, Dr Ian Borg, and Seychelles’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, signed agreements on Friday (Seychelles News Agency)

(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychellois doctors will be able to attend medical schools in Malta and there will be further exchanges in the education and health sectors after the two countries agreed to further deepen their relationship during a meeting on Friday afternoon.

The two island states signed agreements on health cooperation, which will facilitate and strengthen bilateral institutional cooperation in the health sector and they have agreed to establish a joint commission on bilateral cooperation – which will pave the way for more regular consultations on the state of cooperation between the two countries.

The Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta, Dr Ian Borg, and Seychelles’ Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde, signed the agreements on Friday afternoon at Maison Queau de Quincy – the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs on the main island of Mahe.

Borg, who had just landed in the western Indian Ocean island state, is on a 48-hour official visit at Radegonde's invitation.

During his visit he had discussions with some ministers along with his Radegonde to discuss various areas of cooperation.

New areas the two island states will cooperate in are tourism and the Blue Economy.

“Similar to Seychelles, tourism is an important sector of Malta’s economy,” said Radegonde.

“We have discussed ways on how best the two countries can work together to enhance the visibility of both destinations and maximise the revenue from this very lucrative industry,” explained Radegonde.

He went on to explain that due to the fruitful discussions held, there will be “technical exchanges, training in product development and digital marketing.

Meanwhile, as Malta is currently an elected member of the United Nations Security Council, Borg said that his country – also an island state – “will advocate on the issue of climate change”.

Malta has already set the ball rolling, when it brought up the issue of rising sea levels at the UN Security Council in February this year.

In addition to finding new avenues for cooperation, the two countries will continue working in already established areas, such as maritime security.

Malta is part of the EU NAVFOR Atalanta efforts and is at "the forefront of maritime laws”.

Seychellois students have previously benefited from studying maritime law in Malta.

The countries established diplomatic relations 34 years ago.