Seychelles' President Wavel Ramkalawan held discussions with various senior government officials and visited tourism establishments as part of his state visit to Maldives.

State House said on Wednesday that Ramkalawan met with the Vice President of Maldives, Faisal Naseem, the Speaker of the Parliament of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Abdulla Shahid.

"While visiting tourism establishments, the President took the opportunity to visit and interact with the two young Seychellois currently undergoing work-based training at Waldorf Astoria, Maldives; Samuel Marie and Naomi Payet. Marie and Payet are on the 'Fitir' programme by Hilton Labriz Silhouette and were the two top participants from their cohorts nominated for the internship," said State House. 

The President and Minister Radegonde with Naomi Payet who is undergoing work-based training at Waldorf Astoria in Maldives. (State House) Photo license: CC-BY

The President and the First Lady, Linda Ramkalawan, also met with Serena Mangroo, a Seychelloise currently working in the Maldives for the past five years.

Seychelles' President also visited the Trans Maldivian Airways seaplane operation, which is the world's largest seaplane fleet.

"This was an opportunity for him to view their full operation and experience first-hand how the seaplane inter-island transfers are done in the Maldives and discuss possibilities of exchange," said State House.

Ramkalawan, accompanied by Seychelles' Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, Sylvestre Radegonde,  also toured various island resorts and held discussions on sustainable tourism practices being implemented by the Maldives.

Ramkalawan is the first President of Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, to undertake a state visit to the Maldives from June 10 to 14 at the invitation of the President of Maldives, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.