Seychelles, an African country located in the mid-western part of the Indian Ocean, has sought greater business cooperation with India, especially in the field of energy and technology.
In these times of unsustainable energy prices, it is clear that India and Seychelles have a lot to offer each other — both in developing renewable energy and also “exploring all the possibilities of a potential oil find in our waters”, said Seychelles Finance, Investment and Trade Minister, Mr Pierre Laporte.
Speaking at a meeting of India-Seychelles Business Forum last night, he said that in a few months, the strategically located island republic will be connected to a new latest undersea fibre optic cable that will open up a host of opportunities in the services and online sectors.
“Our new connection will in fact make Seychelles one of the countries with the highest bandwidth per capita in the world,” Mr Laporte said at the meeting which was also addressed by the Indian President, Ms Pratibha Patil.
The President is on a two-day visit to the country and will leave for South Africa tour starting tomorrow.
Mr Laporte said: “We look forward to being able to work with partners from India in exploring numerous options to make best use of this technological breakthrough.
“This includes the possibility for numerous improvement in financial services, secretarial and back-office support services, digital warehousing and many others,” he said.
Mr Laporte thanked India for its “invaluable” support to Seychelles in the fight against piracy.