The Minister for Employment, Immigration and Civil Status, Mrs Myriam Telemaque is heading a tripartite delegation from Seychelles at the 14^th ILO Regional Meeting which is also commemorating its 60^th anniversary in Africa and the ILO’s centenary, in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire from 3^rd to 6^th December 2019.

On Wednesday 4^th December, Minister Telemaque delivered her speech at the meeting stating that Seychelles, as a small African Island State, is optimistic for the future of work declared for the African continent, calling on Member States to adopt a human centered approach in everything that we do as we move forward to the next centenary.  She acknowledged that Seychelles has its fair share of challenges with a small population that is ageing, but that despite of the many challenges it has managed to keep the unemployment rate low, through a number of targeted employment programmes particularly for the youth.

Minister Telemaque spoke about Seychelles’ commitments through its second Decent Work Country Programme that it launched in November 2018, as evidence that the country remains focused on creating a good future for its people.  She spoke of significant efforts being made, as the champion of the Blue Economy in Africa, to protect our ocean while at the same time creating incentives to encourage the active participation of our people.

The Minister also took the opportunity of this meeting to advocate for the fate of small island states against climate change, stating that as a country we cannot afford to be complacent as our economy depends largely on our coastal areas that contribute a good percentage in our GDP.  She mentioned of the different actions being taken such as the establishment of a national climate change council to better coordinate works being undertaken in this aspect at national and international level.

The other members of the Seychelles delegation attending are: Ms. Veronique Bresson; Special Advisor; Ms. Benilda Cupidon, Director General for Labour Migration; Secretary General of the Seychelles Federation of Workers’ Union, Mr. Antoine Robinson and Executive Secretary of the General Employers Trade Union of Seychelles, Mrs. Tina Hoarau.