August 25, 2008. President of the Republic of Seychelles James A. Michel led his delegation to the 28th South African Development Community (SADC) Heads of States and Government Ordinary Summit that was held on August 16-17 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The recent readmission of Seychelles into SADC was one of the highlights of the Summit 2008. Also, the official launch of the SADC Free Trade Area (FTA) held at the Johannesburg Summit on August 17 was discussed at the Summit. Besides other issues, the political situation in Zimbabwe and regional economic integration questions were discussed.
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August 21, 2008. Cooperation talks between the Seychelles and Cyprus began on August 19 with the 1st meeting of the Permanent Cypriot-Seychelles Intergovernmental Commission.
The Cypriot delegation was led by the permanent secretary of the Cyprus Planning Bureau, Andreas Moleskis. The delegation held talks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until August 22. The discussions were aimed to exploit all opportunities for new partnerships between the Seychelles and Cyprus.
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August 1, 2008. In July, BMI Offshore Bank (BMIO) made an announcement that its offshore banking operations in the Seychelles have been officially launched. BMIO Bank is a joint venture between Bahrain-based BMI Bank and Seychelles-incorporated Nouvobanq. This venture is managed by BMI Bank to work with offshore banking and private banking services. The venture will also provide access to trust and investment services for corporate and private non-resident customers.
In the beginning, BMIO Bank will offer various services including deposits and investments, Internet banking facilities, and transactional banking from current and call accounts. Some products will be introduced later and they will include Debit and Credit cards, loan financing, trust business and a range of other investment products.
BMI Offshore Bank received a license to operate in the Seychelles from the Central Bank of Seychelles in March 2008.
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July 18, 2008. Recently, the Central Bank of Seychelles has announced that Seychelles' Mutual Fund legislation has been updated.
To successfully use the financial services industry, Mutual Fund Act has been redrafted so that it plugged gaps in the previous mutual funds legislation and allowed local financial service providers to participate in the multi-trillion dollar mutual funds industry. The redraft was aimed at enabling companies that work in the financial services sector to offer services to mutual funds investors.
The original legislation that was the beginning of mutual funds development came into force in 1997.
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July 16, 2008. The 8th Session of the Seychelles-Mauritius Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (SMCBC) ended on July 10. Concluding the Session, the Governments of both offshore jurisdictions agreed to support each other and strengthen cooperation regarding bilateral relations.
The Seychelles delegation was headed by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Patrick Pillay, while the Mauritian side was represented by the delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr Rama Sithanen.
Seychelles and Mauritius have agreed to cooperate as regards Regional Cooperation, COMESA Fund, Regional Multidisciplinary Centre of Excellence, and Cooperation in the fisheries sector. Also, the jurisdictions have agreed to investigate the impact of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations and the bilateral negotiations between the European Union and the ASEAN countries.
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July 5, 2008. In the end of June, the Minister for Finance Danny Faure announced that the Seychelles has launched the process of debt rescheduling as well as partial writing off its bilateral debt.
According to Faure, the President, the minister of finance, the minister of foreign affairs and government officials have contacted institutions like the African Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank with a view to rally support for negotiation on the jurisdiction's debt.
The Seychelles' debt stands at R1.15 billion. Borrowed over the years through bilateral relations with the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Russia and Japan, the money has been invested in the socio-economic development of the offshore jurisdiction.
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July 6, 2008. The Central Bank of Seychelles announced that it will introduce a new service in order to increase investment flexibility. This service allows to sell and buy government-issued bonds.
Once the new service is launched, the persons holding government bonds will be able to sell government-issued bonds to the Central Bank of Seychelles before these bonds reach their maturity. So, they will have access funds that they would have otherwise. The bonds bought by the Central Bank will be sold to people.
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May 20, 2008. On May 16, new Ambassador of China to Seychelles Wang Weiguo arrived in Seychelles and presented his credentials to Seychelles President James Alex Michel in the capital Victoria.
The President of Seychelles welcomed the Chinese Ambassador as new ambassador to Seychelles and recalled the recent development of relations between Seychelles and China. He noted that these relations are based on mutual trust and equality.
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April 15, 2008. In February, the President of Seychelles visited Kuwait, which helped attract Kuwaiti investors to this offshore jurisdiction. On April 8, three representatives of a major Kuwaiti business developer visited President Michel at State House, these people are going to make huge investments into the jurisdiction.
After discussions with the President, one of them, Meshal Almelhem, said that BluePrint need not look any further than Seychelles as they have understood that Seychelles is a very stable jurisdiction. He also called this jurisdiction "a goldmine and a haven for investors".
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April 6, 2008. On April 4, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Deputy Emir of Qatar, issued a decree that ratified a double taxation avoidance agreement (DTA) between Qatar and the Seychelles. In July 2006, the double tax agreement was signed by representatives of the Seychelles and Qatar. This document allows investments made in one of these jurisdictions from the other one to qualify for tax breaks on dividends and royalty payments.
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March 10, 2008. Recently, publishing Seychelles Strategy for 2017 has been announced. The mission stated in the document was doubling the GDP by 2017, which is going to be achieved by means of focusing on developing the offshore financial services industry, tourism and fisheries expansion programmes, as well as the growth of other economic sectors.
Another important aspect of Seychelles Strategy 2017 was the emphasis of the importance of the active promotion of the offshore services menu on offer. This offshore services menu includes IBC registration, mutual funds, special licence companies, and insurance caprives.
Seychelles is aiming to develop as a financial jurisdiction, so, its potential of developing a reputable offshore banking sector is to be exploited.
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March 2, 2008. On February 15, 2008, the European Commission made the 1st step towards the signing of short stay visa waiver agreements between the European Community and Seychelles. Besides Seychelles, the Bahamas, Barbados, Mauritius, Antigua and Barbuda, and Saint Kitts and Nevis are to sign the agreements with the European Commission.
According to the Commissioner responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, the negotiations on the visa waiver with Seychelles as well as with the other 5 countries are necessary to be started as soon as the negotiating directives is approved by the European Council, and the full implementation of the existing legislation framework is available.
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February 12, 2008. The Development Bank of Seychelles (DBS), a joint venture between the Government of Seychelles and financial organizations (Agence Francaise de Development, European Investment Bank, DEG, Nouvobanq) is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a series of activities in the middle of February 2008.
DBS was established in 1977, while its operations were started at the Supreme Court building in February 1978.
To celebrate the anniversary, DBS hosted a 3-day exhibition and showcased its progress highlighting some projects financed by DBS.
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February 8, 2008. The Statement at the Conclusion of the 2008 Article IV Staff Mission to Seychelles was issued by an International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff mission on January 30 and published on IMF website on February 1.
In accordance with the statement, an IMF team, headed by Mr. Norbert Funke, visited Victoria, Seychelles on January 17-30 to conduct the Article IV consultation discussions with the jurisdiction. During the stay in Victoria, the IMF team reviewed economic developments and prospects, and discussed the policies aimed to achieve debt sustainability, external stability, and the goals of their "Strategy 2017" with the authorities of the Seychelles.
It is worth noting that the International Monetary Fund mission welcomed the reform strategy outlined by Seychelles authorities in March 2007. To to put the economy of Seychelles on the path of a sustainable growth for the medium term, the mission made a conclusion that it is necessary to broaden and deepen reform efforts so that macroeconomic balance restores and competitiveness improves.
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February 5, 2008. As a result of the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait, currently Seychelles' President James A. Michel is visiting Kuwait.
The President will hold talks with His Highness The Amir, Prime Minister Nassir al-Muhammad Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, and National Assembly Speaker Jassem Mohammad Al-Kharafi. Also, during his stay in Kuwait, he will meet with the representatives of the Kuwait Investment Authority and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development.
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January 28, 2008. The workshop on multilateral trade negotiation and regional integration was opened. The 4-day workshop was organized by , a regional organisation promoting economic integration through trade and investment entitled the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) in conjunction with the Trade Division within the Ministry of Finance of Seychelles.
The goal of the workshop is enhancing the understanding and awareness of trade issues and strengthening the trade negotiations skills and trade policy development.
Local representatives from different sectors related with trade will meet at the workshop. The participants are representatives from the Ministry of Finance, Foreign Affairs, the Seychelles International Business Authority (SIBA), the Seychelles Tourism Board, and the Seychelles Fishing Authority.
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January 5, 2008. On December 31, 2007, in his New Year's message, Seychelles' President James Michel announced Seychelles the Constitution - the national theme for 2008.
According to the President, the Seychelles Constitution outlines the democratic principles of the country, indicates rights and responsibilities of the people and describes the requirements to the behaviour of individuals, bodies and the government.
In his televised New Year's speech, the President emphasized the necessity to promote Seychelles Constitution in order to build democracy and reinforce the institutions of nation-building. He also said that Seychelles will mark 15 years of the Third Republic after the majority approved the new Constitution in 2008.
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