VP meets Sri Lankan UN hopeful

Vice-President Michel in discussion with the Sri Lankan Foreign Minister

High profile Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, the Honourable Tyronne Fernando met Monday December 22 with Vice-President Mr James Michel.

Foreign Minister Fernando, who has announced his candidacy for the post of United Nations Secretary General, described his meeting with the Vice-President as a very important occasion and said that Seychelles and Sri Lanka have very much in common.

In Seychelles on the first visit by a Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, he said both island nations, "have common histories, common problems and I hope that from now on we can be much closer."

Asked about areas of shared interest the Minister said that tourism had been discussed as an area of cooperation.

Mentioning the fact that, at present, flying from Sri Lanka to Seychelles involves a stop over in the Maldivian capital Malé, Minister Fernando said that the two countries would benefit from a direct flight.

The Foreign Minister said that he also discussed the possibility of Sri Lankan teachers working in Seychelles and noted that, in Seychelles today, the attorney general, legal draftsman and a number of doctors and accountants are Sri Lankan.

With regard to his UN candidacy, Minister Fernando said that he had not asked for a commitment from the Seychelles government, but had mentioned that his government is putting him forward as a candidate when the Secretary General's post becomes available in 2006.

"Asia has not had a UN Secretary General for 40 years, Africa has had three successive terms," said the Minister adding that, "It's very important to the whole world that we have a very fair and balanced person who can tackle the enormous problems that we are going to face."

Acknowledging Seychelles' beauty the Minister reserved special praise for the friendliness of the people he had met. Describing the country as a melting pot he said, "Everyone has some European, African, Asian mix and that is the way the world should be, all mixed and happily living together."

The Minister was accompanied by his public relations officer Mr Deepal Rodrigo and the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Seychelles, His Excellency Mr T.B. Maduwegedera.

TTuesday December in the morning the delegation will meet with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Jérémie Bonnelame, before signing an Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation.

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