Seychelles compliments Indonesia Candidacy to ICAO

Special Envoy of Seychelles for ASEAN compliments the Minister of Transportation of Indonesia Mr.Ignasius Jonan on the Indonesia Candidacy to the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for the period of 2016 – 2019. On the same occasion, Minister Jonan of Indonesia confirmed the full support of his ministry to the bilateral civil aviation agreement between Indonesia and Seychelles. Seychelles is truly grateful for this, since Seychelles is only six and half hours flight from the west coast of Indonesia. Mr Barito expressed : ' Being small islands nations and niche tourism destination, we depend highly on air connectivity within the Indian Ocean and the world'. Indonesia's geographical position which consists of 17,000 islands has made air transportation a very important boost to national economic growth. Indonesia is strategically located in the heart of the Asia Pacific regions and is passed by four major area routes between Pacific and Indian Ocean, bridges two continents Asia and Australia. Today Indonesia is serves by airlines from 27 countries, and 14 domestic carriers, making Indonesia the Top 8 countries with 94,5 million air passengers based on the Global Passengers 2011-2015, World Bank Data and Jakarta the nation’s capital ranked no. 12 in the World’s Busiest Airports 2014 with 57 million of passengers departing and arriving. Mr. Barito reaffirmed that Seychelles wants to learn from Indonesia and to oversee a reliable, competitive and value added hub of air transportation within small islands of the Indian Ocean. Minister Jonan reiterates his ministry readiness to work closely with small islands development states from Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. Both Minister Jonan and Special Envoy Barito agreeto co-host an Indonesia - Seychelles international consultation forum on fulfilment of reliable, competitive and sustainable aviation service business for small islands development states by early 2016. Special Envoy of Seychelles for ASEAN will work together with his counterparts Special Envoy of Indonesia for ICAO, Mr. Indroyono Soesilo to promote the achievement of civil air services sustainability in compliance to safety and security for the Seychelles and other small islands development states.