COMESA-IOC workshop gives Seychelles support

20 July 2010, The People Online
URL: http://people.partilepep.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=52%3Acomesa-ioc-workshop-gives-seychelles-support&catid=41%3Aeditorial&Itemid=57

Seychelles has the support of the region to legally fight pirates following the workshop held this week at Le Meridiens Barbarons.

Seychelles has the support of regional partners to arrest, prosecute, detain, and transfer the Somali pirates as the law in Seychelles now recommends.  If we recall, the Opposition in the National Assembly did not vote in favour of this law.

Government was determined to put an end to the scourge of pirates to our islands and continued its work to get regional and international support.

It should be noted that pirates have become the biggest threat to trade. Seychelles has lost approximately 30% in both the level of activity and revenue generated in Port Victoria.

The two-day technical workshop to discuss Regional Action Plan to Fight Piracy, emerged with an action plan that called for further capacity building in all regional countries including Somalia, and harmonized laws on piracy to streamline collaborative processes and ensure that all the states have the necessary laws needed to prosecute suspected pirates in place.

The action plan was concluded by participants of the workshop and also had the support of last week’s Seychelles Symposium on Maritime Security, the Joint Parliamentary Assembly and the Fisheries Workshop.

“This week we’ve worked to have a shared regional policy, and subsequent action plan on piracy”, said Mr. Maurice Lousteau-Lalanne, the principal secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who was acting as chairman of the workshop.