Tourism CS, Najib Balala gifts Seychelles Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation and Marine, Maurice Loustau-Lalanne.
Kenya and the Indian
Ocean country of Seychelles have reached an agreement to boost tourism and
promote trade amongst African nations.
The Government of
Kenya, through the Ministry of Tourism and National Carrier, Kenya Airways KQ has
signed a Memorandum of Understanding MOU with the Seychelles Tourism Board STB and
this was confirm through a hand over ceremony that took place in Nairobi.
The agreement embodies
a framework for collaboration between the airline and the Seychelles Tourism
Board which is guided by the strategic value of tourism to both organizations.
The MOU further seeks
to promote sustainable development in Africa.
“Statistics
indicate an increase in arrivals from both destinations to each other’s
countries. There is therefore a solid ground to further grow and sustain
tourism in both destinations,” said Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala
during the handover.
Maurice
Loustau-Lalanne, Seychelles’ Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and
Marine said that his dream is to work together with Kenya to come up with strategies
to boost tourism.
“This will include
having incentive travels and holiday packages. We are excited by the
possibilities offered by Kenya Airways and the supported accorded to us by The
Government of Kenya, “he continued.
KQ CEO, Mbuvi Ngunze assured
that through signing of the MOU , KQ will seek to not only boost the frequency
of flights into Seychelles , but also avail regular cargo freight flights on
the request of the Seychelles government based on demand for products from
Kenya.
The tourism deal is
not the only deal the two countries have struck.
During bilateral talks
with President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday at State House, Nairobi visiting
Seychelles President Danny Faure entered a wide reaching agreement that will
see the two countries expand their ties in trade and security.
The agreement will
see Kenya export more human capital and agricultural products to Seychelles.
President Faure said
it would be mutually beneficial for his country to import beef and poultry from
Kenya rather than countries like Brazil.
Seychelles is
expected to assist in transformation of Kenya’s maritime sector especially the
fishing industry.
Both presidents
announced that Seychelles will support Kenya to make the port of Mombasa to
develop the capacity to act as a fish trans-shipment port.
