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Mr. President,
Colleague Ministers,
Members of the National Assembly
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Republic of Seychelles is one of the smallest and least populated African
Small Islands Developing States. Its track record on environmental
conservation and sustainable development practices for its “green economy”
is one that is complimented worldwide. With over 50% of its limited land area
protected in one way or another, Seychelles’ is now poised to take advantage
of this terrestrial based achievement to harness the potentials of its “Blue
Economy”.
“What is the Blue Economy?” - “What is there to harness?”
In the past two to three years considerable attention has been turned to the
potentials and resourcefulness of our oceans – our Blue Economy.
For
although we call our planet – “Planet Earth”, we all know that our planet’s
surface is actually 72% ocean. The omission of OCEANS is evidence of the little
attention that the world has hitherto paid to the immense potentials and
resources of our oceans for sustainable development.
The Seychelles has a vast EEZ of 1.3 million square kilometres of ocean. When
factored in the equation, the dynamics of size, responsibility and resource
availability takes a totally different perspective. Are we really a small, narrow
resource based nation? Because when we include our EEZ we are the bona
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fide custodians of a geographical area that is stated to be 3 times the size of
France. I ask again – Are we really a small nation with limited resources or does
the dynamic really change when we look at it from an angle that includes our
EEZ as part and parcel of our development platform? I will leave this as food
for thought for your further discussion.
At the Rio+20 the “Blue Economy concept”, was forced onto the agenda as a
developing world initiative pioneered by SIDS. The Blue Economy approach
that Seychelles is promoting is one that is anchored on the principles of
‘sustainable development’. This approach also underlies the 2012 United
Nation Environmental Programme report entitled the “Green Economy in a
Blue World”.
Under the unwavering leadership of President Michel we have spared no
effort to endorse and promote the Blue Economy concept on the national,
regional and international platforms. Our efforts have contributed significantly
to giving the concept the international credibility that it currently enjoys.
The first Summit on the subject, was part of Abu Dhabi’s Annual Sustainability
Conference in January 2014. It was led by President Michel and sent a clear
message of the intentions of the Republic of Seychelles. It is evident that for
Seychelles, the Blue Economy concept and the principles of Sustainable
Development are inextricably linked.
In our region both island states and coastal states have been involved in
various aspects of the Blue Economic concept. Some have barely stepped into
the ocean whilst others have developed commendable expertise in certain
areas.
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The Republic of Seychelles has certainly not missed some of the opportunities
in the following:
i)
Fisheries: One of the highest per capital consumers of wild fresh finfish on the planet, Seychelles has emerged as the hub for landing and
transhipping the Blue Gold (Tuna).
ii)
In nurturing this industry and others we faced the scourge of piracy
and have developed capabilities as well as forged partnerships that
have made the our oceanic grounds safer.
iii)
Port Victoria is host to the largest Tuna canning factory in the
region, producing millions of cans of tuna per day.
iv)
Port Victoria also boasts the deepest and safest port in the Indian
Ocean for all maritime operations. With Seychelles lying outside the
cyclone belt the Victoria Commercial and Fishing Ports have the
ability to operate 365 days a year, 24/7.
v)
Zone 14 is the natural extension of our industrial Blue Gold (Tuna)
industrial fishing sub-sector. The capacity and role of Port Victoria is
being increased with the recent addition of a 120-metre quay. This
will soon be complimented by the addition of a 425-metre quay
under a public-private sector partnership.
vi)
Unprecedented growth in the semi-industrial fisheries sub-sector
has prompted the Government to start negotiations with our
Japanese partners to extend the Providence semi-industrial port and
related facilities. This sub-sector has lately benefited from processing
plants in which they can add-value to the catch.
vii)
Bunkering and other related services out of Port Victoria is very
lucrative and SEYPEC has gone further with the purchase of 5 oil
tankers that ply the world’s oceans building young Seychellois
capacity and delivering or taking on fuel for distribution.
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viii)
Hydrocarbons have recently been discovered mainly offshore, on the
East African Coasts of Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya. Seychelles
is also exploring for offshore oil – the signs are encouraging.
ix)
The potentials of the resources in the oceans offer many new
avenues for business.
Seaweed transformation into useable
fertilizer is a project by a Seychellois entrepreneur that is already
being considered for implementation.
x)
To properly and sustainably manage the opportunities of the Blue
Economy – we need to increase our knowledge of our Maritime
space. Thus a maritime spatial planning of our EEZ is a crucial
starting point. This exercise is already being implemented which will
ensure we avoid future conflicts in use of our maritime space and
resources.
xi)
The potentials of aquaculture and mariculture are encouraging. A
comprehensive “Mariculture Master Plan” (MMP -2015-2020) is
being finalized. It will be complete in the first quarter of 2015.
Government has decided to start implementation of only 5 % of the
identified potentials. This refers to the additional production capacity
of 50,000 tonnes of fish per annum translating to new export
revenues of approximately 250 million US$ and the creation of 2,000
new jobs.
xii)
Our idyllic, pristine beaches and turquoise blue sea attracts tourists
and we should tirelessly treasure these as important pillars for our
tourism economy. The spin-offs from tourism bring critical revenues
and jobs that we can ill afford to take for granted.
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xiii)
And finally, the virtues of reclamation have positively transformed
and opened up opportunities with projects such as the International
airport, the ports, the Eden Island project, Perseverance Housing
projects and others. Seychelles has literally been opened-up to the
world and vice-versa on the platform of the “Blue Economy”. From
there, tourism and fisheries, the first and second pillars of our
economy, have prospered.
Mr. President:
With your devoted leadership in this quest, Seychelles is on the road to offer
the region and the world the prospect of sustained, environmentally sound
and socially inclusive economic growth of our Blue Economy. We aim to take
optimal advantage of the strengths of our coastal and marine sectors.
As we move forward, the implementation of the concept will reverse the
current trends of continuous degradation of the marine ecosystem and its
functionalities. There is a lot of work to be done. We have to establish
complimentary rules and regulations and change mind-sets. They have to be
replaced by concrete actions that will promote sustainable management of our
ocean space and its potentials.
Distinguish Guests – Ladies and Gentlemen,
The oceans are living entities– they are not Dead Seas – yet we have the
capacities to kill our oceans and in the process kill a very import part of
ourselves! The complex ecosystem that we have to get to know, to manage
and respect as we harness the opportunities of our Blue Economy are daunting
tasks that will stretch our abilities. We are nevertheless committed to face the
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challenges and continue to lead in the quest to further harness and valorize
the potentials of our common oceans.
Multiple conferences, symposiums, fora, summits, have been conducted on
the subject matter. So far there has been two World Oceans Summits the
third is in the making. The FAO has come out with the Blue Growth Initiative,
the United States hosted an Oceans Conference that I personally had the
honour to address, the African Union has come out with its “Africa Integrated
Maritime Strategy” (AIMS) whilst the United Nations Economic Commission
for Africa (UNECA) have commissioned a report entitled “Unlocking the full
potential of the blue economy”: and asks the question: “Are African Small
Island Developing States ready to embrace the opportunities?”
Mr. President, Distinguished guest, ladies and gentlemen
We are gathered for the one and a half day forum to partly answer this
Question! Are we – Seychelles – ready to embrace the opportunities offered
by our Blue Economy!!
In wishing you fruitful deliberations that will I am sure be an input in the
second Seychelles Blue Economy Summit in January 2015 at the Sustainability
Conference in Abu Dhabi.
THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR ATTENTION.
Thank you.