Seychelles seeks Indian help against pirates
$1-billion Seychelles' economy losing about four percent of GDP to piracy With its $1-billion economy losing about four percent of GDP to piracy, Seychelles has sought India's help in putting an end to this threat to trade in the Indian Ocean, particularly in prosecuting the sea brigands.Seychelles Foreign Minister Jean-Paul Adam, who was in India on a three-day visit last week, told IANS in an interview that he had asked his Indian counterpart, S.M. Krishna, to assist in the trial of pirates and help increase convictions."In Seychelles, we have estimated that piracy has cost us four percent of the GDP in terms of growth and this is a terrible cost to our economy...there is a huge opportunity cost," Adam said when asked about the impact of piracy on his country's economy.He said the next step in the anti-piracy operations is prosecuting the sea brigands to end the impunity they enjoy."In Seychelles, currently we have convicted 67 pirates who are serving sentences in our jails and we also have another 18 who are awaiting trial."We look forward to working with India and one of the key issues I discussed with the minister (Krishna) is further support that India can give to ...
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