Alain St.Ange, the Seychelles Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture in his capacity as the sitting President of the Indian Ocean Vanilla Islands Regional Organization, used the International French Travel Market in Paris to hold a meeting with Mr. Daniel Zaidani, President Conseil General de Mayotte, to discuss the Vanilla Islands and cooperation between the two Indian Ocean Islands.

Seychelles holds the Presidency of this Regional Organization, regrouping the Seychelles, La Reunion, Mauritius, Madagascar, Mayotte, Comoros, Rodrigues of Mauritius, Praslin of Seychelles, Nosy Bay of Madagascar, and La Digue of Seychelles. The organization has also already approved a resolution to invite the Maldives to also join in as a fully-fledged member. This information is yet to be conveyed to the Maldives government, but is expected to be done soon.

The meeting between Minister St.Ange and President Zaidani centered on the way forward for the Vanilla Islands and on the organization’s Ministers Summit due to be held in La Reunion this coming November.

Minister Alain St.Ange of the Seychelles said after the meeting that the spirit of togetherness that transpired at the meeting was encouraging and showed that islands of the Indian Ocean wanted to see unity in their actions to make their region as a whole strong. “Unity is strength. In the troubled economic situation facing the main markets of the tourism industry of the Indian Ocean Islands, it was important that all the islands of our region understood our individual responsibilities to be united to make our region the tourism region it deserves to be. It is known that many islands in the Indian Ocean are today suffering in visitor arrival numbers, some more than others, but this situation will only get worse if we do not get our act together to work together as committed islands to reposition our region in the world of tourism destinations,” Minister Alain St.Ange of the Seychelles said.