The United States of America’s Ambassador  to Seychelles, H.E. Mrs. Shari Villarosa paid a farewell call on President James Michel at State House this morning following a three year tenure, based in Mauritius.

President Michel thanked Ambassador  Villarosa  for her hard work, and expressed gratitude to the US Government for the funding and contribution provided to the development of civil society projects in Seychelles.

“The United States and Seychelles enjoy a strong and fruitful relationship. We are committed to many global issues like climate change, security, economic liberalization, democracy, good governance and sustainable development of the oceans.We thank the US for the assistance that Seychelles is receiving, in the fields of maritime security, environment and biodiversity, learning and development and capacity building through the Young African Leaders Initiative,” said President Michel.

The President and the Ambassador  reviewed the various cooperation programmes between the US and Seychelles and they spoke  about the recent presidential election in Seychelles as well as the one currently taking place in the US.

They noted the good participation in the Seychelles presidential election and the evidence of a truly multi-party democracy. They spoke about the President’s mandate and his priorities in terms of the economy, education and health care as well as increased wealth distribution.

“We talked about the development of Seychelles, we talked about our shared cooperation across a vareity of fields....we have been doing a lot of training of young people through our Young African Leaders programme and we are right now in the process of selecting some more Seychellois. I am very optimistic about the future of Seychelles based on the young people,” said Ambassador Villarosa in an interview with local media.

Also present in the meeting were the  Principal Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne and the President’s Diplomatic Adviser, Ambassador Callixte d’Offay.