The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative for Mauritius and Seychelles, Ms. Amanda Serumaga paid a courtesy call on Minister Sylvestre Radegonde yesterday at Maison Quéau de Quinssy. Ms. Serumaga is currently on a working visit in Seychelles, where she will be having meetings with high government officials. She was accompanied by Ms. Joan Manda, the Senior Investment Advisor for the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Finance Sector Hub in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as other officials from the UNDP Office in Mauritius and Seychelles.

The meeting was mainly to appraise the Minister on the on-going cooperation between Seychelles and UNDP, especially on the diversification of the country’s economy. Minister noted his gratitude towards UNDP for the continued technical assistance in formulating strategies that involve the private sector and investment.

Ms. Serumaga added that UNDP is working with the Ministry of Investment, Entrepreneurship and Industry to formulate an SDG Investor Map for the country.  The SDG map is a UNDP-created online market intelligence tool that allows countries to attract the private sector to investment opportunities with a high potential to impact national development priorities.

It is to be noted note that UNDP has embarked on a new strategy that is geared towards enhancing the strong existing partnership with the country, which includes other sectors such as tourism, investment, socio-economic areas other than just the environment portfolio, which UNDP keeps playing a crucial role, particularly towards climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Minister Radegonde thanked Ms. Serumaga and her team for the meeting and expressed the government’s gratitude for UNDP’s strong and remarkable presence in the country.