Month: March 2023

There is a great need to make available information in Seychelles' fisheries industry more accessible and transfer it to the public in layman's terms, which will allow the information to be used in managing fisheries efficiently and sustainably, according to a new report.

This was outlined in the Seychelles 2021 Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI) report and shared in a national fisheries transparency workshop focusing on Seychelles organised by the Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy, the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Madagascar.

The event, which provided a platform to present the findings of the 2021 report, was broken down into two sessions to target the large-scale and small-scale fisheries of the country.

The report compiler, Daniella Larue, shared that in Seychelles' 2021 FiTI report, a total of 17 recommendations were made, touching all areas of fisheries.

"There is a recommendation dealing with fisheries resources. The website of SFA (Seychelles Fisheries Authority) is wonderful and full of reports produced between 2017 to 2021, but they are quite technical and scientific. One of the recommendations is to make the information more accessible," said Larue.

"Another deals with economic contributions, dealing more specifically with the number of people who work in the industry. We know this information in tourism, but we do not know the numbers for fisheries. We always say that the fisheries sector contributes a lot economically, but we do not know how many people work in the sector. It is important for us to know and this was a recommendation," she added.

Larue said that despite the amount of work that still remains to be carried out, there has been an improvement in the amount and quality of information published on the sector with some information being more up-to-date.

The chairperson of Seychelles' FiTI National Multi-Stakeholder Group, Philippe Michaud, said, "It is important to have transparency but we also need to see what to do with the information. With the system that we have we can help to better manage our stock and for better redistribution of benefits coming from the industry."

Fatime Kante, an economist in the Blue Economy department, said that Seychelles has made undeniable progress in improving transparency around its fisheries sector through the implementation of the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI).

"This has translated into vast amounts of information now being available on government websites. Yet, the impact of transparency does not lie in the act of publishing information alone. It relies on how this information is used to contribute to managing fisheries efficiently and sustainably," said Kante.

While Seychelles has demonstrated significant progress in implementing the FiTI's transparency requirements, there is a need to ensure that the information that is now publicly available contributes to sustainable policy-making, effective oversight, accountability, and public debates.

This was determined after the completion of the Seychelles validation process carried out by the FiTI International Board.

The participants in the session looked at how such transparency efforts can support national reform priorities for Seychelles' fisheries, and understand participatory mechanisms in that sector.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

Seychelles is set to become the first offshore jurisdiction to fully implement the Beneficiary Ownership (BO) Act and comply with international standards by April.

The amendments made to the Beneficial Ownership Act in 2020 state that legal persons and legal arrangements are required to provide their Beneficial Ownership (BO) information to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) through their resident agents.

The law further stipulates that in order to do so resident agents are required to register and populate the Beneficial Ownership databases as appropriate.

As the small island state is to become the "first mover", the Seychelles International Financial Services Association (SIFSA) hosted a conference to see how the implementation of the law is going as well as look at the new proposals government is planning to include.

The chairperson of SIFSA, Marco Francis, explained the process of implementing the BO Act framework over the last few months and said: "We want to see how we can make these laws easier to implement."

One of the challenges the corporate service providers have had to deal with is that following the changes in legislation, they have only had six months to implement the changes.

"The initial implementation time the government had given us for the law was very short, so it was very hectic. However we have seen that it has gone smoothly, even though there were times when the portals were down," said Francis.

Present at the meeting were the service providers and the regulators and both parties were able to bring forward their propositions on how to better implement the BO laws.

The amendment to the Seychelles BO Act is to improve the archipelago's reputation in the offshore sector.

Seychelles was added to France's blacklist of tax havens in 2020 for not having been cooperative enough on issues of fiscal transparency relating to requests for information on some French offshore entities registered in the island nation.

The 115-island archipelago in the western Indian Ocean was also included on the United States sanctions list due to links with Iran.

However, it was removed from the EU tax haven blacklist in late 2021 after a number of amendments and legislation were introduced to ensure compliance with EU standards.

Those present at the conference agreed that the reputation of the offshore sector is something that needs to be tackled collectively and such laws were the first step in doing so.

Under the BO Act in Seychelles, anyone who owns a business has to upload on the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) who is the owner.

One of the presentations by the regulators highlighted that countries have shifted from just being recipients to being able to question the information they are given and that having the information on hand is essential to the investigation of financial crimes.

Among the challenges pointed out was that the offshore companies based in Seychelles now have to make sure that the beneficial register is accurate.

The service providers in Seychelles will now have to have a current register that includes their clients' Tax Identification Number or National Identification Number, name, residential address, service address, date of birth and nationality.

The information will remain on their books for at least seven years after they stop being a beneficial owner.

Authorities in Seychelles will also hold inspections to ensure the laws are being followed and penalising those who do not.

The authorities have until June to revise the BO guidelines.

Source: Seychelles News Agency

The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, received, this Tuesday, a written message from his Zimbabwean counterpart, Emmerson Mnangagwa, within the framework of strengthening bilateral cooperation.

The message was conveyed by Patrick Chinamasa, special envoy of the President of Zimbabwe, who at the end of the audience said that it was the intention of both governments to keep working for the unity and development of Southern Africa.

Patrick Chinamasa, who highlighted the importance of friendship and cooperation ties, recalled that Angola and Zimbabwe maintain deep and fruitful ties from a political, diplomatic and commercial point of view.

Located in Southern Africa, like Angola, the Republic of Zimbabwe is a country placed in the south area of the continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers.

Zimbabwe is bordered to the north by Zambia, to the north and east by Mozambique, to the south by South Africa and to the west by Botswana.

Source: Angola Press News Agency (APNA)

France is facing a tenth day of demonstrations against a very unpopular pension reform on Tuesday, in a climate made electric by the growing violence, which the government says it is trying to appease, in vain for the moment.

Opposition to this emblematic reform of Emmanuel Macron's second five-year term, which delays the retirement age from 62 to 64, has become more radical since the government passed the text without a vote in the Assembly, exposing to no-confidence motions that failed on March 20 to overthrow him.

Since then, the demonstrations have been punctuated by increasing violence, with in particular many police officers, gendarmes, thugs and demonstrators injured or fires in public buildings.

Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced an "unprecedented security device" for Tuesday with "13,000 police and gendarmes, including 5,500 in Paris".

At the same time, blockades, pickets and demonstrations have continued for days, disrupting the fuel supply to certain French regions, and certain roads or logistics depots. Road blockages were in place Tuesday morning around Rennes and Nantes (west) where traffic was very difficult.

Train traffic was severely disrupted Tuesday morning.

Yasmine Mounib, 19, a student in the north of France, says she "agrees" with the demands of the strikers who are calling for the withdrawal of the reform. "But they could leave the morning trains for high school students, students: it's costing me my schooling," she explains, saying she got up at 4:00 a.m. for an 8:00 a.m. class that she will still miss.

More than 15% of service stations in France were running out of gasoline or diesel on Monday.

Thousands of tons of garbage still disfigure Paris after more than three weeks of garbage collectors' strike and serve as fuel for groups of thugs in the evening.

A sign of the deleterious climate, particularly violent clashes opposed demonstrators and law enforcement on Saturday in a rural region of central France against a backdrop of hostility to a water reservoir project. Two men were between life and death after the clashes.

– “Gesture of appeasement” –

To get out of the rut, while remaining inflexible on the substance of the reform, the government proclaims its desire for "appeasement".

On Monday, Emmanuel Macron, whose popularity has fallen sharply, gathered at the Elysée Palace Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne and the executives of her majority – party leaders, ministers, parliamentarians.

According to comments reported by a participant, the president declared that it was necessary to "continue to reach out" to the unions and accused the party La France insoumise (LFI, radical left) of wanting to "delegitimize" the institutions.

The Prime Minister has set herself two objectives: “appease the country” and “accelerate the responses to the expectations of the French people. »

In this perspective, she opened three weeks of consultations on Monday, with parliamentarians, political parties, local elected officials and social partners, if they so wish.

But the unions, which have warned against an uncontrolled skid of the protest, do not intend to give up on the starting age, the keystone of their mobilization.

The leader of the reformist central CFDT Laurent Berger, who is calling for a "pause" in this reform, asked the executive on Tuesday to set up "mediation" to "find a way out".

"What the intersyndicale is offering today is a gesture of appeasement" that "must be grasped", said Laurent Berger.

Opponents of the reform consider it "unfair", especially for employees in difficult jobs and women.

The head of LFI Jean-Luc Mélenchon called for the "withdrawal" or a "overhaul" of the reform and the departure of the Prime Minister to get out of the political crisis caused by the "pure coup de force" of Mr. Macron .

Territorial intelligence anticipates that "650,000 to 900,000 people will march everywhere in France on Tuesday, including 70,000 to 100,000 people in Paris", according to a police source,

Another police source predicts "a doubling, even a tripling" of the presence of young people in the processions.

Young people are particularly mobilized on the issue of police violence, some of which has been widely shared on social networks, and while the Council of Europe has criticized an “excessive use of force”.

In the midst of this crisis, pro-Russian hackers attacked the site of the National Assembly on Monday to denounce France's support for Ukraine.

Source: Source: Burkina Information Agency

The High Commissioner of the province of Tuy, Issiaka Segda, proceeded on Wednesday March 23, 2023 in Houndé, to the opening of the first Gym "Watinonm" of Houndé, which will contribute to the development sports in the locality.

The first sports infrastructure of its kind in Houndé, the “Watinonm Gym” is equipped, among other things, with dumbbells, discs, benches, multifunction weight machines, sports bikes, treadmills and a fitness area. aerobics.

Located on the eastern outskirts of the city near National Road 1, the infrastructure is an initiative of Oumar Ira, a passionate and professional weightlifter from Houndé.

The ribbon cutting marking the opening of the jewel took place on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.

According to the promoter, the idea of creating this gym was born from his passion for sport.

“I started practicing this sport from a young age. I have always been passionate about this sport,” he explained.

Mr. Ira indicated that for the practice of body exercises, young people as well as the elderly can have their account.

For the sponsor of the ceremony, Souleymane Dianda, president of the special delegation of the municipality of Houndé, this project will offer more opportunities to the population in terms of sports practice which, according to him, is a factor of social cohesion. and economic development.

He congratulated the promoter and wished good luck to his project.

The High Commissioner of the province of Tuy, invited the populations to attend the gym.

Source: Source: Burkina Information Agency

Japanese diplomat Mase Hiroyuki discussed on Tuesday with Prime Minister Me Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambèla, on the priority needs of Burkina Faso, AIB learned.

"We talked a lot about what we are going to do in terms of partnership between Japan and Burkina Faso in several areas," said Tuesday, the Africa director, responsible for the French-speaking area of Africa at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Japan, Mase Hiroyuki.

He was speaking following an audience with Burkinabe Prime Minister Me Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambèla.

According to the diplomat, it was a question of seeing the needs to be met on the ground, taking into account above all the priority areas and the needs that will arise.

Mase Hiroyuki maintained that the commitments will be clarified during future discussions.

He recalled that the partnership between Burkina Faso and Japan already covers several areas including Agriculture, Education, Regional Integration, Infrastructure and Transport.

Source: Source: Burkina Information Agency

The Regional Director in charge of Youth, Moussa Tassembédo, officially installed in his functions on March 25, 2023 in Ouahigouya, the president of the new office of the Regional Youth Council of the North (CRJ / North), Nongma Kadidiatou Ouedraogo.

With 13 members, the new office of the Regional Youth Council of the North (CRJ / North) is officially installed following the elections that took place last February.

Headed by Nongma Kadidiatou Ouédraogo, the first woman to chair the CRJ in the North, the new team is committed today March 25, 2023 to work for the influence of the organization.

The new captain intends to ensure that all the actions that will be undertaken by the incoming office are beneficial to the youth.

For this, Nongma Kadidiatou Ouédraogo, insisted on the need for a sincere union of youth.

“Our mission will be to get young people to invest more in the country's current difficulties, namely insecurity, because we are at the center of the search for solutions. Let everyone bring their stone for Development”, she argued.

The new team intends to work in training and advocacy in order to allow young people to have the necessary baggage for their professional integration.

The outgoing President, Rasmané Ouédraogo, congratulated the new team and thanked the customary and administrative authorities for their support.

Source: Source: Burkina Information Agency