President Danny Faure received the president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and sitting senator in Mexico, H.E. Honourable Gabriela Cuevas Barron, at State House this morning. The visit of Honourable Barron, the 29th President of IPU, forms part of an African Tour in the last year of her three-year tenure.

Honourable Barron was accompanied by the Speaker of the National Assembly of Seychelles, Honourable Nicholas Prea, Members of the National Assembly Honourable Waven William and Honourable Jany de Letourdie, and the Deputy Clerk of the National Assembly, Mrs Tania Isaac.

President Faure welcomed Honourable Barron to Seychelles and he commended IPU for the work that it is doing in the promotion of human rights and global dialogue. The President said that he hoped her visit to Seychelles would further strengthen IPU’s relations with Seychelles.  

Honourable Barron briefed the President on the work that the IPU has been doing so far. They also spoke about matters of interest to both the IPU and Seychelles such as climate change, whereby she commended Seychelles for its active role in successfully advocating for climate change resolutions at the international level. They also discussed avenues of cooperation with the National Assembly in terms of capacity building, cultural exchanges and tourism.

The IPU is the global organisation of national parliaments that began in 1889. Today, the membership includes 179 Member Parliaments and 12 Associate Members. Seychelles became a member of IPU in March 2010.

Also present at the meeting was the Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Dr Marina Confait, and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs.