Seychelles and Indonesia are set to cooperate even more than before through FORSEAA, the ‘Forum of Small Medium Economic AFRICA ASEAN’. My recent appointment as Deputy Secretary General of FORSEAA is set to consolidate the excellent ties already existing between the two countries.
FORSEAA is an intergovernmental forum founded by Seychelles and Indonesia with members from AFRICA and ASEAN countries, with its permanent secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.
One of the FORSEAA programs is to achieve SME in Culture & Tourism by the active role of the host community to develop a compassionate destination, based on the diverse cultures of Indonesia. Specifically for small islands eco-tourism, FORSEAA will accelerate the cooperation between AFRICA ASEAN especially Seychelles and Indonesia by pairing the brand image of Seychelles in eco-marine tourism. FORSEAA is working to see from the world at large, how it can assist the many small pristine islands in Indonesia to contribute economically to Seychelles.
As the Deputy Secretary General at FORSEAA, we shall continue to organize for example the visit by youths and students from the Community of Nations to Kutai Kartanegara in East Kalimantan as part of its effort to help promote compassionate destinations of eco-culture in Indonesia
Seychelles Special Envoy for ASEAN, Mr. Nico Barito said the youth and students on previous such trips came from France, Netherlands, Japan, Liberia, Madagascar, Belgium, Dominican Republic, and Italy.
The initial 10 days itinerary provides the international youth with excursions to various local destinations of eco-culture as well as the opportunity to mingle with local people.
“The program gives economic benefits to local people, particularly homestay owners, restaurants, tourist guides, cultural activists, and handicraft traders and has offered local youths rare opportunities to interact with youths from other countries”, said Mrs Rita Widyasari, the Bupati (local premier) of Kutai Kartanegara.
Mrs Rita added that 2017 has been declared as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism by United Nations and Kutai Kartanegara is proud to participate and focus to promote tourists with the protection of the environment and culture and empowerment of women and youths as part of its program to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG).
The program which is coordinated through FORSEAA “Forum of Small Medium Economic AFRICA ASEAN” would continue to bring international tourists, especially youths who want to explore nature adventure and eco-culture in Indonesia, said Mr. Rega the program officer of FORSEAA in Indonesia.
He also said that FORSEAA will replicate the Kutai Kartanegara program for the development of culture tourism within other local governments of Indonesia.
“Developing tourist destinations is like the question of what comes first, the chicken or the egg. Our experience in Seychelles shows that when destinations are well promoted, tourists would come and the development of infrastructure and world class accommodation would follow suit,” Nico Barito said
