President Faure chairs follow-up meeting to resume commercial passenger flights to Seychelles




President Foure Press release of 21.07.2020

President Faure chaired a follow-up meeting this morning in the STC conference room to review the national framework for the integrated management of the reopening of Seychelles International Airport, in which it was agreed that the airport should be reopened on 1 August 2020 is opened for commercial passenger flights.

21.07.2020

Author:
Karl Schnürch

Translation of the original:
Karl Schnürch

The Public Health Officer, Dr. Jude Gedeon, gave an overview of the situation of COVID-19 both at national and international level and provided details on global trends of COVID-19 and an update on the cases in the Seychelles. The Task Force Committee also provided an update on its work, with its Chairman, the Minister for Tourism, Civil Aviation, Ports and Marine, Didier Dogley, reporting the results of the airport exercise held on Monday 20 July, which tested the effectiveness of existing measures.

Key government and private sector stakeholders present gave a comprehensive report on the state of the country's preparation for the reopening of its borders in just over a week, including the Health Care Agency, Ministry of Tourism, Seychelles Tourism Board, SCAA, SHTA, SCCI, GETUS, SIFCO and CEPS.

An overview was given of the building blocks of the National Framework from the business community, covering business support, health certification, digitisation and support mechanisms for special projects, training and awareness raising. SIFCO provided an up-to-date overview of the security measures implemented across different denominations. The CEPS secretariat also provided information on the implementation of health regulations for its members and the results of a recent survey. The tourism related presentations highlighted the establishment of permanent structures, an update on the review and evaluation of safety opening procedures (SOPs) in tourist facilities to prepare visitors and the concept of safe travel tourism. All the presentations brought a willingness and a firm attitude in favour of reopening the borders to commercial tourism. Flights on 1 August 2020 expressed.

In his commentary on the COVID-19 cases in the Seychelles, President Faure confirmed that there had been no transmissions and deaths in the Seychelles community. He praised the hard work of the Health Authority in ensuring that medical personnel are trained and equipped with the necessary equipment to deal with this pandemic, as well as the implementation of robust policies and strategies to protect the citizens of Seychelles and citizens of other countries who are in the country and those who will soon enter Seychelles.

The President also praised the strengthening of training in all areas in order to achieve the objectives set by the National Framework for Integrated Management. He encouraged everyone to continue to prepare safety measures and said that all citizens as a country must collectively assume their responsibilities when commercial flights resume. He noted that facilities that are not yet certified will not be able to receive tourists unless they work on their SOPs and provide the necessary induction training for their staff.

The President encouraged the public sector to remain vigilant and to comply with the applicable national framework. As far as the media are concerned, based on a meeting with the entire local press, they should use the central contacts for communication to ensure that the population is properly informed.

The next meeting will take place on 4 August 2020 to ensure that all sectors meet the standards.

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