Source: https://mfa.gov.sc/news/seychelles-intervenes-on-the-african-union-au-summit-theme/
Released: 2026-07-28
VICTORIA, Seychelles. Seychelles has called on the African Union to scale up financing for climate resilient water infrastructure and to weave the blue economy agenda more firmly into this year’s continental theme.
Speaking at the African Union Executive Council meeting, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Diaspora, Ambassador Barry Faure, intervened on the AU theme of the year “Ensuring Sustainable Water Availability and Safe Sanitation Systems to achieve the goals of Agenda 2063”. He commended the African Union Commission for the progress achieved on the theme, in particular the recent launch of the Africa Vision and Policy 2063.
Minister Faure underlined that the implementation of the theme has to be inclusive and must take proper account of the particular vulnerabilities of both island and coastal states, with their narrow margins to absorb external shocks and their close dependence on the sea.
He called for increased financing for climate resilient water infrastructure and for the blue economy to sit alongside the water agenda in practice, noting that “the sound stewardship of our oceans cannot be separated from the sound stewardship of our water resources”.
Minister Faure used the intervention to share Island Watch, a citizen science initiative being piloted in Seychelles. The programme equips communities, students, researchers and government officials with digital tools to monitor freshwater ecosystems, in turn strengthening the environmental data that supports climate resilient decision making in Small Island Developing States.
Closing his remarks, Minister Faure placed emphasis on the meaningful participation of women and youth in water governance, and said he looks forward to Africa presenting a unified voice at the upcoming United Nations water conference in December in the United Arab Emirates.
