A new United Nations liaison office has opened in Seychelles and will be operational as of next week, said its coordination officer.
The office located in Maison Mahe in Victoria is there to “strengthen and synergise the relationship between the different agencies and to really assess and collaborate on matters whenever we can,” explained the coordination officer, Alexander Mancham.
The opening of the office on Tuesday coincided with the visit of the UN resident coordinator, Christine Umutoni, who is based in Mauritius.
Umutoni said to reporters after meeting with President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House on Tuesday morning that the liaison office “will be working closely with foreign affairs, planning and other ministries, to ensure that this coordination office works well.”
Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has been a member of the UN since June 1976.
“The UN is here to assist these agencies on many different frontiers. Many people don’t realise that there are 20 agencies in Seychelles. Although only four of these are physically based here there are another 16 which have Seychelles under their portfolio,” explained Mancham.
“There’s a lot of opportunities here to capitalise on and a lot of work to be done, it’s certainly a very exciting development,” he added.
Mancham will be the only person working in the office although “we’re looking into the possibilities of having other people working, maybe in an internship capacity, in the near future.”
SOURCE: SEYCHELLES NEWS AGENCY