(Seychelles News Agency) - The new High Commissioner of Mozambique says he is looking at the tourism, environment, infrastructure, and maritime surveillance sectors as ways in which his country can increase cooperation with Seychelles.  

After presenting his credentials to President James Michel on Tuesday, High Commissioner Paulino José Macaringue told the press he will find areas where the two countries face the same challenges.

“We do have a memorandum of cooperation that we would like now to make it quick and identify additional areas where we share similar challenges,” says Macaringue.

Seychelles’ Head of State and the High Commissioner discussed their aspirations to open new avenues of economic cooperation between Seychelles and Mozambique ( Joena Bonnelame, Seychelles News Agency) Photo License: CC-BY

President Michel congratulated Macaringue and said that the government of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, is looking forward to a more active partnership with Mozambique, and more involvement with the SADC -- the Southern Africa Development Community --  and the African Union.

The Seychelles’ Head of State and the High Commissioner also discussed their aspirations to open new avenues of economic cooperation and development in the fields of tourism, fisheries, culture, and people-to-people contacts.

“In the areas of maritime safety, for instance, piracy is also our challenge, transnational criminalities like drug trafficking, money laundering, the management of the islands. So, all these will present and develop a firm basis for us to develop projects and improve our cooperation,” said Macaringue.

The Mozambican High Commissioner to Seychelles is based in Pretoria, South Africa.