The Seychelles is keen to have direct air links with Sri Lanka while establishing a shipping hub here.
During a meeting with Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Industry and Commerce of Sri Lanka, visiting Foreign Minister of Seychelles Jean Paul Adams said the Seychelles uses many sea vessels built in Sri Lanka and in fact has become its shipbuilding hub in the Indian Ocean.
“We use many Sri Lankan produced vessels in inter-island transport services. Colombo is also becoming a major marine hub for us due to the close proximity in comparison to South Africa and as Colombo harbour expands, it can help us to trade without unnecessarily anchoring at regional container ports, the exception being Salala Port in Oman which is capable of handling largest container vessels in the world. Our shipping industry is looking for more and more medium and small scale vessels, rather than large scale vessels, to navigate in between our islands,” he was quoted as saying in an Industry and Commerce Ministry statement .
He said the government is also keen on Sri Lanka’s tourism and sea food. “We are expecting 350,000 tourists in the coming year and most tour operators in Seychelles want to prepare joint holiday packages combining Seychelles beaches and Sri Lanka’s scenic tea hills, jungle safaris, and temples which are the most sought after locations in Sri Lanka by tourists exiting Seychelles and the Dubai hub.” |
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