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Seychelles discusses bilateral support with Germany

Seychelles discusses bilateral support with Germany

The Seychelles’ Minister for Tourism and Culture, Alain St.Ange, has sought the support of Germany to assist in the development of the German language at the Seychelles Tourism Academy. Minister St.Ange made this appeal during the German Ambassador’s visit to the Seychelles as HE Mrs. Hargit Hellwig Boette made a courtesy call on the Minister.

Minister St.Ange said that “the new purpose-built Tourism Academy currently under construction in the Seychelles will house a language laboratory, which will play an important role in the development of languages for our travel and tourism industry.”

Minister St.Ange spoke about the lack of German teachers in the Seychelles: “This is a huge constraint for students aspiring to learn Deutsch.

“Good German communication skills are today indispensable to the success of our tourism industry. If one wants to reach out to people, he or she has to speak the language. Germany remains a key tourism market for Seychelles and one that is growing fast. It is, therefore, essential for the Seychelles tourism industry to have more German language speakers as it can boost students’ employment prospects both domestically and internationally.”

Ambassador Hellwig Boette has undertaken to look into this line of cooperation with the Seychelles. She spoke about the new German Institute in the Kenya Capital, Nairobi, stating that “she will formulate a demand to seek the institution’s support for the Seychelles Tourism Academy.”

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The Goethe-Institute in Nairobi opened its new research center in March 2010 in the presence of Ambassador Hellwig Boette to awaken interest in the German language. It also promotes Kenya–German inter-cultural exchanges.
The Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture also spoke about the Third edition of the “Carnaval International de Victoria” to be held in February 2013.

Minister St. Ange has extended his congratulations for the impressive performance given by the Dusseldorf delegation during the second edition of the Carnival parade. He has urged for the German support to make the third edition of the Carnival an even greater success.

Another area of bilateral cooperation which Minister St.Ange put emphasis on is the restoration of the Seychelles’ heritage sites. The Seychelles Minister said that “Seychelles and Germany share close bilateral ties, which should be reinforced where possible and as possible.”

Germany is today the Seychelles’ second main tourism market.