Indian Ocean countries support Miss Creole des Iles International competition
ATP- Arab tourism portal- Creole speaking countries in the Indian Ocean have pledged their support to the effective organisation and running of the Miss Creole International competition. Seychelles recently elected its Miss Kreol des Iles as part of the 30th Anniversary Celebrations of its annual Festival Kreol.
Following a meeting held at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture Offices at ESPACE Building on Monday 26th October، the minister for Tourism and Culture، Alain St.Ange، Chief Executive of the Vanilla Islands، Pascal Viroleau and other representatives from Reunion Island and Rodgrigues met the founder of the pageant، Director of Telly s Modelling agency، Terry Carolla.
Also present at the meeting were the Principal Secretary for Culture، Benjamine Rose، Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the Seychelles Tourism Board Nathalie Didon، Marketing executive at the Tourism Board Coralie Renambatz، Marie Dieu Stelliania Perrine from Rodrigues، and Reine Grondin from Reunion Island. Minister St.Ange informed the meeting that he has also discussed the proposal with Minister Santaram Baboo، the Minister of Arts and Culture of Mauritius and that he was fully supportive of this cultural drive for the Indian Ocean Region.
During the talks،the different representatives representing the different Indian Ocean Islands discussed the many ways through which they could use the pageant to put the Creole culture at the forefront، and have the winner help to market the region s culture once she has clinched the crown.
“The idea will be for each island to elect their own Miss Kreol des Iles، after which one shall be elected at a beauty with a purpose pageant to elect the Miss Creole des Iles International from the respective island s Kreol Beauty Queens. To better represent this concept there needs to be the presence of the overseas department of territories of France territories، Haiti and also New Orleans. This will be a golden opportunity for them to showcase their Creole culture and the unique attributes of their respective countries،” said Minister St.Ange.
This argument was also supported by Ms Benjamine Rose، the Seychelles PS for Culture. However Mr Pascal Viroleau، the CEO of the Indian Ocean Vanilla islands moved to propose that the pageant be organised to a set standard – enabling all the countries supporting Miss Creole des Iles International to choose a beauty queen fit to be an ambassador for the Creole world.
It is for this reason that those in attendance have also agreed to set up a committee comprising of representatives from their respective islands to ensure that the event is well organised and is successful and that the first pageant to elect the First Miss Creole des Iles International be held during the 2016 Festival Kreol in Seychelles. The pageant will then rotate to all the islands participating in this beauty pageant. It was agreed that this will be give the islands a big boost in terms of visibility on the international arena.
Those attending the meeting agreed with Minister St.Ange s wish that Miss Creole des Iles International event is integrated on agenda as part of the calendar of events of activities in Rodrigues، Mauritius، Reunion and Seychelles.
“It will be also be an event where the flags and the identity of those participating islands will be known to the world،” said Minister St.Ange.
Mr Terry Corolla thanked all those representatives for their support of the idea and stated that the event is a good way of putting the culture of the islands at the forefront as the participating girls will have the opportunity to share the many facets of being Creole through their cuisine and dance to name a few.
It is to be noted that Seychelles staged its Miss Kreol des Iles pageant last October 10، this year and 18 year old Debbie Horsman was the winner.
