His Excellency Mr Danny Faure
President of the Republic of Seychelles

Seychelles is well-known as an exclusive holiday destination. Our marketing slogan, “As Pure as it Gets”, is derived from our world-leading efforts to preserve our cherished environment. Seychelles is the place to be for a quiet, relaxed and romantic holiday.

We are making it easier for investors to do business in Seychelles. As we develop each Seychellois is given the opportunity to own a share in business ventures.

We also have stability and peace to offer both investors and visitors.

Victoria, our capital, is the most important tuna port in the Indian Ocean. We operate one of the three biggest fish canning factories in the world.

Being an island nation, we turn to the sea for much of our livelihood. We have started building a shipping industry to include a fleet of double-hulled petroleum tankers for the transportation of fuel worldwide.

The development of our offshore sector, which is one of the fastest growing jurisdictions in the world, is supported by a modern telecommunications system, sound legal structure and efficient team of professionals.

The main difficulties we face are small size, lack of natural resources and isolation. That is why the people of Seychelles can feel confident that through our Commonwealth connections we are stronger. Our solidarity is our strength. The Commonwealth provides a platform to build peace and deliver prosperity to all our peoples.

We are committed to the Commonwealth’s shared values of tolerance, respect, and equality and uphold its fundamental principles of democracy, human rights, the rule of law and sustainable socio-economic development.

Welcome to Seychelles and happy viewing!

The above message was provided by the previous President, His Excellency Mr James A Michel.

Seychelles in the Commonwealth

did you know?

• Seychelles joined the Commonwealth in 1976
• Seychelles became an independent country on the 29th of June 1976
• Seychelles has been taking part in Commonwealth Games since 1990, and has won five medals during this time
• Simone de Comarmond became Chair of the Commonwealth Foundation in 2009
• Seychelles is an archipelago of about 115 islands in the western part of the Indian Ocean, spread across a maritime zone of more than 1.3 million square km
• There are 41 mountainous granite islands, the highest point being Morne Seychellois (905m) on the largest island, Mahé; the other islands are built of coral, and are scattered, low-lying and sparsely populated
• Seychelles has one of the highest incomes per capita in Africa – US$8,960 in 2007 (a figure exceeded only by Equatorial Guinea and Libya)
• Almost 89% of Seychelles is covered by forest, more than any other country in the Commonwealth, and this figure has remained constant over 1990-2005

Commonwealth Projects

Restructuring of Public Service Salaries in Seychelles (2007/08)
This Commonwealth funded project developed an appropriate and effective salary structure that attracted the skills required by the public service and gives managers flexibility to reward performance. The aim was to enable the pubic service to attract and retain young talent, technical and professional staff, thus motivating a workforce which can provide quality services.

Seychelles Trade Facilitation (2007/08)
This project which was commissioned by the Commonwealth Secretariat, assisted the Seychelles Port Authority in undertaking a port benchmarking study. The aim was to develop and implement a viable strategic plan and investment programme for Port Victoria, one that complies with international standards in trade and transport facilitation.