The Ambassador of the Federative Republic of Brazil to Seychelles, H.E. Francisco Carlos Soares Luz today bade farewell to President James Michel in a meeting held at State House, at the end of his tenure of office. The farewell call was attended by Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Maurice Loustau Lalanne.

President James Michel expressed his sincere appreciation for the work concluded by Ambassador Luz during his tenure in office which he said has reinforced the cooperation between Seychelles and Brazil.  Mr Michel assured him of continued support to his successor and noted that two countries should also look at other various cooperation programmes and see how they can build on the excellent relations that already exist.

During the meeting Ambassador Luz spoke about the bilateral air services agreement that Brazil and Seychelles are signing  today. Furthermore, President Michel and Ambassador Luz reviewed various cooperation programmes that are of interest to both countries in the field of tourism, oil and gas as well as supports on the international arena in different forums.

Speaking to the local press after the meeting, Ambassador Luz said that it was a pleasure for him to represent his country in Seychelles while based in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania and described the relations between Seychelles and Brazil as ‘good and friendly’.

“The level of cooperation between Seychelles and Brazil is very good but it could be better. Unfortunately Seychelles is being treated as a high ranked country, so it does not benefit from most of our cooperation..... We try to do the programmes that we can. We’re starting now our military cooperation on maritime security. We appointed a military observer to the African Union whom has been here in Seychelles already for a meeting in January. We’re trying to see which areas we can develop because of this situation.   We have an education cooperation agreement, it is due to be in force as soon as it is ratified by the President of the Senate, it will allow Seychellois to study, especially the graduates and postgraduates studies, in Brazil. So I think it is something that we will increase in our cooperation,” concluded Ambassador Luz.