United Nations (UN) Headquarters, New York: On the sidelines of the 74th UNGA, the President of the Republic of Seychelles, Mr Danny Faure, held talks this morning with the Founder of BG Research and CEO of Mobino, Mr Jean-Francois Groff. He was accompanied by the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), Lead Advisor for Digital Centre for Excellence- Identity, Trade and Economy, Mr Tunde Fafunwa.

Discussions centred on possibilities of a partnership with Mr Groff and how best Seychelles as a Small Island Developing State can take advantage of new technological networks to make internet more accessible and affordable to Seychellois.

Groff was linked with the origins of the World Wide Web and is now associated with the development of Low Earth Orbit Constellations (LEO).  

Mr Groff was the guest speaker at a UNGA Side-Event held yesterday of the UNCADigital Identity, Trade and Economy (DITE) Advisory Board. The meeting presented delegates with a platform to discuss the Digital Transformation Strategy in Africa through technical partnerships with public, private, civil and academia.

This being the first preliminary discussionwith Seychelles,a fact-finding mission will be initiated to work out the technical details of the application in the Seychelles context.