Seychelles and Russia are set to deepen cooperation over security issues following discussions held with a high-level Russian delegation lead by the Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, HE Mr. Nikolai Platonovich Patrushev, during a brief stop-over in Seychelles on Saturday.

The Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Mr. Vincent Meriton and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Mr. Jean-Paul Adam met the delegation, who were en route to South Africa, discussed on arrival the security challenges currently being faced by Seychelles; more notably the scourge of piracy in the Indian Ocean, which both sides agreed needed further attention.

Areas of for further cooperation focused on specialized training opportunities for Seychellois personnel, Seychelles’ participation in Russian-led international security forums, and greater coordination of military assets in the region.

“Russia is one of the countries that share our view that we are at a turning point in our fight against piracy, and we really need to increase our efforts. Part of this will be through stepping up military presence and actions at sea, and the second part relates to institution building in Somalia where Seychelles has led the way with our transfer agreements with Somali authorities recently. The third way is to tackle money laundering which is linked to ransom money paid to pirates and is also linked to other illegal activities such as terrorism,” said Minister Adam.

“Russia has also offered to assist us with training in various areas such as anti-terrorism training for the military and police, as well as intelligence gathering among others,” Minister Adam concluded.

The two delegations also discussed other sectors for the two governments to deepen cooperation, including tourism and education.