VICTORIA, Seychelles, May 19, 2016/APO (African Press Organization)/ —
A delegation from Seychelles attended the 3rd Eastern Southern African and Indian Ocean Region Ministerial Meeting on May 15 2016 in, Djibouti.
The Seychelles delegation was led by Ambassador Joseph Nourrice based in Addis Ababa, who represented Minister for Foreign Affairs and Transport, Mr Joel Morgan together with Mr. Jacques Belle, MASE National Focal Point at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Transport.
The main thrust of the Ministerial Meeting was to highlight the effectiveness of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS) which has acted as a cornerstone of the response established following the United Nations Resolution 1851.
The Ministerial meeting which was attended by a numerous high level delegates from the region adopted decisions which call upon the international community to review and broaden the CGPCS mandate to include other maritime security threats and transnational organized crime, while maintaining the current regional focus on Somalia, Horn of Africa and the Western Indian ocean region.
The international community was also invited to support the regional maritime capability and participate in the establishment of the regional maritime surveillance mechanism under the European Union funded MASE programme through the operationalization of the Regional Maritime Information Fusion Centre in Madagascar and the Regional Coordination Operational Centre in Seychelles.
Seychelles Ambassador, Mr Joseph Nourrice delivered a closing remarks where he commended the work of the experts of the Technical Steering Committee on Project Implementation Review of the MASE Programme that met the day prior to the ministerial meeting and who drafted a series of recommendation and a communique for adoption.
Ambassador Nourrice also spoke of the recent accession of Seychelles to Chair the CGPCS as ‘an opportunity for Seychelles to promote further regional ownership over the problem of piracy in the region internationally. He also said, that ‘ the Seychelles delegation took note the ESA-IO community call to widen the scope of the CGPCS mandate.
