New Delhi. Speaker of the National Assembly of Seychelles Azrael Ernesta along with the delegation met Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla at the Parliament House on Wednesday. During this, both sides discussed parliamentary cooperation, democratic values and measures to further strengthen bilateral relations between India and Seychelles.
The meeting also discussed possibilities of bilateral cooperation in areas such as health, digital transformation, infrastructure and renewable energy. Both the leaders described the meeting held in an enthusiastic atmosphere as an important opportunity to give a new direction to India-Seychelles parliamentary relations.
Birla lauded Ernesta’s efforts to strengthen democratic institutions as the first female Speaker of Seychelles. He congratulated India and Seychelles on completion of 50 years of diplomatic relations and 50 years of independence of Seychelles.
Birla and Ernesta expressed happiness over the new energy provided to the relations between the two countries by the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Seychelles and his address to the Parliament there. Birla stressed on enhancing parliamentary cooperation between the parliaments of the two countries and strengthening the shared heritage of democratic values.
Birla invited the Parliamentarians of Seychelles to visit the Indian Parliament and gain a closer understanding of the country’s rich democratic system. He also proposed to introduce Seychelles MPs to the Indian parliamentary system, committee system and Parliament Library.
He informed the delegation about the changes brought about by technology, innovation, digital parliament and use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the Indian Parliament. Birla talked about sharing India’s experiences with Seychelles through PRIDE in the field of parliamentary capacity building and suggested Seychelles MPs and officials to take advantage of PRIDE’s training programmes.
Both sides also discussed the possibilities of working together to further strengthen people-to-people contacts between the two countries through culture, education and tourism and to give an effective voice to the Global South. Birla described Seychelles as a reliable partner of India in the Indian Ocean region and mentioned its role in ‘Vision Ocean’. He stressed the need to enhance cooperation for regional peace and stability in multilateral fora, including the United Nations.