Seychelles and the United States will continue collaboration in maritime security, social and economic development as well as providing more flexibility for the US visa process as a top agenda, the newly accredited American ambassador to Seychelles said.
Henry Jardin made the statement to the press after
presenting his credentials to President Wavel Ramkalawan on Tuesday at State
House, Victoria.
He said that the issue of a visa waiver is of great
importance to the Seychelles' President.
"We are looking at how we can be supportive on the
matter. There is sort of a series of steps or procedures that have been put in
place, one of them being the new biometric passport that's been put in place.
There's also law enforcement agreements and some other areas that have to be
assessed," said Jardin.
"I would add that we have been looking at providing
more flexibilities for the visa process and I would note that for individuals
that have an existing visa that is still valid and seek to renew, they may not
have to do an interview. We are looking at how we can do interview waivers for
those individuals who have visas, have traveled back and forth, and have had no
issues. We do want to look and see how we can provide more flexibility on the
visa piece," he added.
During his meeting with the President, the ambassador
discussed how Seychelles and the U.S. can collaborate on areas such as maritime
security, social development, and economic development, promoting and speaking
about the issues of democracy.
"We talked about how Seychelles has made great strides
in developing its democratic institutions and to really be a model for the
region, in Africa and the Indian Ocean as well," Jardin shared with the
press.
Talking about U.S. engagements made to African countries
during the recent African Leaders' Summit, Jardin said "we are looking at
how we can support Seychelles in areas related to the environment, and its
economic development."
"We've seen some great initiatives here in Seychelles
related to the Blue Economy and the blue bond, swapping debt for grants and
programmes to help improve the maritime environment. I think there are these
kinds of areas that we're going to be pursuing and hopefully linking back to
the African Leaders' Summit programme," said Jardin.
During his visit to Seychelles, Jardin will be calling on
several high government officials such as the foreign affairs minister,
internal affairs minister as well as senior law enforcement officials.
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