President James Michel has met with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in the margins of the US-Africa Summit.

President Michel said that Seychelles and Ethiopia enjoy excellent relations and would work towards developing collaboration at different levels.  The President said that the return of Ethiopian Airlines to Seychelles would boost economic cooperation such as trade and tourism.

"I believe that the time has come for us to strengthen our relations both bilaterally and at the level of the African Union.  There is so much we can do together," said President Michel.
The Ethiopian Prime Minister said that that his country would welcome investors from Seychelles for mutual benefit.

They also discussed security in the region, in particular piracy issues and terrorism.

"We can work together to enhance security in the African region together," said Prime Minister Desalegn.

They also discussed the possibility of Seychelles exporting fish to Ethiopia and working on capacity building in the fisheries sector.

"Seychelles' fisheries products can be exported to Ethiopia and at the same time Seychelles can import vegetables and other products from Ethiopia. This would be a win win situation.... Furthermore security is crucial for our region, we are small but prepared to make our contribution to peace and security of the region, including to the African Union peace keeping missions in the region. We have set up REFLEC3 for information gathering and intelligence sharing and have invited partners from the African region to participate and collaborate in the exchange of information to fight terrorism and other forms of crimes," said President Michel.

They discussed the creation of a Seychelles-Ethiopia joint commission, which both endorsed.

The meeting was also attended by the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Dr Tedros Adhanom, the Seychelles Foreign Minister Jean-Paul Adam, the Seychelles Ambassador to the US, Marie-Louise Potter, the Secretary General of the Office of the President, Lise Bastienne.