The Minister for Youth, Sports and Family, Marie-Celine Zialor, has visited the sports pavilion at the Dubai EXPO, establishing contacts for the development of high-level sports and professionalising sports in Seychelles.

Minister Zialor, who visited the sports pavilion on Wednesday this week, was accompanied at the EXPO by the National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive Jean Larue and Alain Alcindor also from the NSC.

Seychelles’ delegation visited pavilions of strong sporting nations which included Australia, Russia and Croatia.

The minister and her team also attended a meeting with a delegation from Botswana who had expressed their wish to collaborate with Seychelles specifically for exchanges between women in sports.

The meeting was attended by the director of Botswana’s pavilion at the EXPO as well as by a representative from Botswana’s Ministry of Sports.

The two countries shared what each was doing in sports and discussed what they could collaborate in especially in sports tourism.

For instance, Botswana shared their experiences hosting international events such as kitesurfing and a leg of the DAKAR race. It is to be noted that Botswana is also strong in athletics.

The group explored the different initiatives and it is hoped that water sports are one area where there may be some exchanges between Seychelles and Botswana.

Both countries agreed to actively engage with other key partners in sports for mutual benefits and it was also agreed that more should be done to have increased participation at regional games.

Seychelles and Botswana already have established cooperations in the education field with the training of Seychellois teachers in Botswana.

Earlier that day (Wednesday) Minister Zialor also visited the Seychelles pavilion and took time to interact with the Seychellois team there. The minister commended the team – most of them young people, for their work at the Dubai Expo.

Up to Wednesday, some 18,000 people had visited the island nation’s pavilion which is themed ‘Preserve Nature’. 5,000 visitors were recorded on Thursday 21 alone.

Source: Seychelles Nation