The new ambassador of the Republic of Portugal to the Republic of Seychelles, H.E. José Augusto De Jesus Duarte, presented his credentials to President James A Michel at State House today in a ceremony attended by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport, Mr. Joel Morgan and the President’s Diplomatic Advisor, Ambassador Callixte D’Offay.

President Michel congratulated the new Ambassador and said that Seychelles is looking forward to forging stronger ties between the two countries.

During their meeting they discussed issues of common interest and areas of possible cooperation such as business and investment, training in different fields, the Blue Economy, tourism, and renewable energy among others.

After the accreditation ceremony Ambassador Duarte told the national media that his talks with the President centred on cooperation of mutual interest and that he also had greetings of best wishes for President Michel and the people of Seychelles from the Portuguese authorities.

He explained that Portugal respects and wishes to encourage Seychelles in view of its good stability as a state.

“We are very impressed with the determination of Seychelles in what it has done for security in the region, through mediation process in Madagascar, through the combat against piracy and maritime security. This deserves our respect and encouragement. Then we are also impressed with the wonderful figures that we can see regarding, education, political stability, economic growth, low employment rate, the corruption perception index. So all these makes Seychelles more competitive, more attractive and not just a beautiful archipelago in the middle of the ocean. This really makes us really move forward…it’s the quality of its government and the quality of its people,” said Ambassador Duarte.

Ambassador José Duarte is based in Maputo, Mozambique.