Russia is offering the Seychelles cooperation in several fields including space technology to help the tiny island nation fight against the impact of climate change, the newly accredited Russian ambassador said on Tuesday, according to the Seychelles News Agency.
“We all have to fight with the negative consequences of climate change which is very important for this part of the world. This is one more sphere where space technology could be useful. Space is not only about but science but it’s also about saving the planet. We feel very optimistic in starting these projects and fulfilling these ambitious dreams,” Arlem Alexandrovich Kozhin said after presenting his credentials to Seychelles President Danny Faure, who asked for help in the field at the first Russia-Africa Summit in Russia in October.
Russia will next year celebrate the 60th anniversary of the trip by Yuri Gargarin, a Soviet Air Forces pilot and cosmonaut, who became the first human to journey into outer space on April 12, 1961.
Ambassador Kozhin said that Russia “could in the nearest future begin cooperation in space exploration with the Seychelles. Russia has great scientific experience in various fields including exploration of outer space which I hope could be useful to the Seychelles to fulfilling the dream of the nation.”
Another potential field of cooperation between Russia and Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, is in investment.
Kozhin said the Russia Africa summit last year opened a new door and paved a new way of boosting the economic cooperation between Russia and countries of the African Union including the Seychelles.