From the 7th to 15th of May, a delegation from the National Assembly of Seychelles participated in the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States African Region Parliamentary Group (OACPS ARPG) and the Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly in Ezulwini, Eswatini. The delegation was led by Honourable Churchill Gill and comprised of Honourable John Hoareau and the parliamentary services' ACP EU Desk Officer, Ms. Haley Payet.
The OACPS ARPG served as preparatory platform for the African group to familiarise themselves with the new institutional framework, discuss the status of ratifications, and formulate a coordinated African position. Within the OACPS framework the African region is divided into four principal regions: Central, East, West and Southern. Accordingly, regional sessions were convened to allow Parliamentarians to engage in discussions on their priorities under the OACPS and ACP-EU portfolio and present updates on the current state of play of ratification processes in their countries. Hon. Gill chaired the East Africa Region Parliamentary Group meeting and thus represented the East African region for the meetings of the Bureau. The Eastern bloc consists of Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda.
A main topic of discussion was the status of ratification as the Samoa Agreement continues to apply provisionally pending ratification by the necessary number of parties from both the Africa and European side. These discussions culminated in the adoption of regional positions, which were subsequently reported and represented during the Bureau meetings.
The Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly convened the following week. The meetings were chaired by the two Presidents of the Assembly Honourable David Houinsa (Benin) and Honourable Hilde Vautmans (Belgium). Each region has 4 Vice Presidents, with Hon. Gill amongst them as Chair of the East African bloc. The Africa-EU Parliamentary Assembly included various sessions between the distinguished Members of EU Parliament and the African bloc. The days included debates and forums on “The role of regional organisations and their parliaments in peace and security in Africa” and “Mobility and Youth Education”. Seychelles made important contributions to both debates, participating with concrete and comprehensive interjections on the topics at hand. The discussions on these topics were very constructive and inclusive, with both African and EU Parliamentarians as well as Youth Ambassadors contributing valuable perspectives to help inform future policy direction and cooperation in these areas.
The meetings were finalised by the consideration, amendments and endorsement of Recommendations for submission to the Council of Ministers. Deliberations surrounding the endorsement on certain recommendations proved to be particularly sensitive. Given the size of the Parliamentary Assembly achieving consensus proved to be challenging. However, the Recommendations were successfully concluded in the final session.
