February 7 th, 2020- Seychelles Ambassador Louis Sylvestre Radegonde visited the President of Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) Mr. Gürsel Baran after presenting his credentials to President Recep Tayyip Erdoðan.

Louis Sylvestre Radegonde, Ambassador of Seychelles which is composed of 115 islands, stated that Seychelles' economy mostly depends on tourism hence rendering the country's trade mainly on imports especially on fruits and vegetables. The Ambassador added that they are ready to develop Seychelles' trade with Turkey in other fields, mainly on dietary products.

Providing information about the Seychelles, Ambassador Radegonde said that tourism constitutes 45 percent of the country's economy. Furthermore, underlining that fishery and offshore banking have a heavy weight in Seychelles' economy, Radegonde pointed out that Seychelles is a country open to investment in all sectors, especially tourism. "There is potential in many other sectors, especially tourism, in terms of investment. Therefore, I find it very important for the chambers of commerce to come together and evaluate this," Radegonde said and also invited Ankara Chamber of Commerce to Seychelles.

ATO President Gürsel Baran mentioned during his speech that trade volume between Seychelles and Turkey increased to 25 million USD in 2019 while it was 17 million USD in 2018. Ambassador Radegonde, stated that there will be "Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit"  in April under the auspices of Turkey's Presidency which could be an important basis for the development of trade between the two countries. Mr. Baran said, "We are on board if you trade with Turkey. Current trade figures do not make us happy. We should increase these figures as soon as possible."