President James Michel has appointed Mr. Derick Cesar Alexandre Ally and Mr. Thomas Selby Pillay as Ambassadors of the Republic of Seychelles.

Their appointments follows the approval of their appointments by the National Assembly of Seychelles today in accordance with Article 64 (1) of the Constitution.

Mr. Derick Ally studied Biological Sciences and Pedagogy at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. He has a distinguished career in diplomacy, having worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the Office of the President, as well as working for the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

During that time, he has held various positions such as Head of Protocol in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1994, Director of Protocol in that same Ministry in 1998, , and Director General for Presidential Affairs and Chief of Presidential Protocol in the Office of the President in 2004. Between 2005 and 2014 he was the Executive Assistant to the Commonwealth Secretary General, at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London.

Mr. Selby Pillay is a career diplomat with a broad range of experience in the diplomatic service. He holds a Master of Science in Politics and Economics from the Berlin University of Economical Sciences, Germany. He started his career with the then Ministry of External Relations as an Economic Cooperation Officer in 1991. Since then he has held many positions in Seychelles and abroad, such as the Principal Counsellor at the Seychelles Permanent Mission to the United Nations, New York in United States of America from 2011 to 2014. Previously he held the positions of Director General for International Relations between 2010-2011 and also Director General for Multilateral Affairs between 2007-2010.

The appointment of Mr. Ally and Mr. Pillay takes effect on 1st October 2014.  They will initially be based in Seychelles, but may be posted overseas on a rotation basis, as is the normal practice for Ambassadors.