President James Michel met with the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mr. David Pierre, this morning at State House, in order to discuss issues of national importance.

Mr. Pierre expressed his views to the President on various issues, particularly announcements made by the President in his National Day Address, such as the forthcoming salary review, foreign investment and economic development.

The President and Mr. Pierre concurred that there is a need to empower the Seychellois workforce to launch business and participate in the economy in order to ensure Seychellois ownership, while at the same time maintaining foreign direct investment for the economy to grow at a steady rate.

They also discussed the need to improve the services provided by the government health system, as well as the Police, especially the efforts to reduce crime, drug taking and other social problems.

President Michel and Mr Pierre furthermore spoke about the work of the Finance and Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly. Mr Pierre discussed the need to create a structure which would coordinate work of the FPAC abd the Auditor General in order to establish a greater level of the transparency and accountability of financial management of the state.