(Seychelles News Agency) - The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be in  Seychelles Saturday and Sunday at the invitation of President James Michel. 

“Ban Ki-moon will be the first Secretary-General of the United Nations to visit the Seychelles since the country joined the Organisation in September 1976," a statement from the president's office on Monday said. 

"This visit is particularly timely and important given that Seychelles is celebrating its 40th anniversary as a sovereign nation and its membership in the United Nations," the statement added. 

Ban Ki-moon's visit “is a powerful testimony to the exemplary and fruitful partnership between the Seychelles and the UN and its agencies, in developing political and socio-economic of the Seychelles over the years," says the statement.

President Michel has built a personal relationship with Ban on various subjects including the issue of small island developing states, the blue economy and gender. 

During his visit to Seychelles, a group of 115 islands in the western Indian Ocean, Ban will have bilateral talks with the head of state on Saturday followed by a reception at State House.

A South Korean national, Ban is the eighth Secretary-General of the UN, an international organisation founded in 1945 with its headquarters in New York. The UN has 193 members.