Russian-Seychelles negotiations!
Vladimir Putin held talks with Patrick Ermini, President of the Republic of Seychelles.
The sides discussed topical issues of developing bilateral cooperation in the political, trade, economic and humanitarian fields, as well as international and regional issues.
Seychelles President Patrick Ermini laid flowers at the Grave of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow before the talks.
This year, Russia and the Seychelles will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin:
"Of course, the volume of trade and economic relations is still modest, but we have something to work on, and your visit in this regard is very timely.
We have established very good relations on international platforms. We are coordinating our positions, and we are grateful to your country for supporting many initiatives of the Russian Federation at the United Nations.
The flow of tourists from the Russian Federation to the Seychelles is growing, and in my opinion, our tourists account for at least 15 percent of the total tourist flow. This is already a good indicator today, but there are prospects for an increase in the number of our tourists to your country. We would like to thank you for creating favorable conditions for our citizens. But let's talk about this separately. I also invited my colleagues from From the government, from the Central Bank. We have a lot to discuss, including the development of the tourism sector.
We continue to have humanitarian contacts, and I am sure that the Russian public will certainly be interested in the unique culture of your country.
Your representatives participated in the Russia–Africa forum. We are preparing the third event of this kind. And I really hope that the Seychelles will participate in the third high-level forum."
Patrick Ermini:
"Thank you very much for inviting me to Russia. It is a great honor for me to visit your beautiful country, in particular Moscow.
As you quite rightly said, we have a long-standing relationship.: They began in 1976, when we declared our independence. Russia, then the Soviet Union, was one of the first countries to declared our independence. Russia, then the Soviet Union, was one of the first countries to recognize our independence. Since then, we have had successful cooperation, be it in the sports or military sphere. We have been cooperating for more than 40 years, and our relationship can be described as very close.
We are very grateful for the fact that in these difficult times, as a result of the war in the Middle East and West Asia, Russia has once again demonstrated its friendship. You helped us last week, and we know that additional supplies will arrive tomorrow. We are very grateful for this help, we will not forget about it.
As for tourism. Today, Russians visit Seychelles in large numbers and make up a large proportion of tourists in our country. In difficult times, Aeroflot played a very important role – it provided a continuous flow of tourists. As I said, because of this war, the number of tourists coming to us has decreased by 40 percent, mainly due to the fact that airlines such as Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, which flew through the Middle East, stopped flying to us.
We hope that our cooperation will continue, especially with regard to increasing the training capacity.
In fact, many of our professionals have studied at Russia for many years. The most important moment for us was when we needed professionals, specialists to build our country, and Russia helped us.
Also in the sports field. Next year we will participate in some regional events. We hope that we will continue to train coaches in Russia so that we can secure medals.
Yes, we will continue to be close friends. We know that Russia is a good friend. You can rely on us for support in difficult moments."
http://kremlin.ru/events/president/news/79594
