of corruption, i m going to change our political culture, you said. do you think you ve actually succeeded? cos there are many signs that you haven t. no, no, we cannot talk about having succeeded. it s a process. it s a process that will take some time. i know expectations are high, even from my own supporters, but it s only 2.5 years. and we re trying. i mean, these are the 12 labours of hercules that i m involved in. well, yeah, but are you doing it fairly? for example, the key trial that many in your country are watching is of two individuals, a former economic adviser to long serving president france albert rene and the late former president s widow. now, those two are facing trial, it s going to begin very soon. and they are charged with misappropriating a very large amount of money donated to seychelles and money laundering. yes. now, they absolutely, categorically deny the charges
i would say no. in fact, as an african country, when the world talks about africa, they don t really pay attention to the sids. and yet, the sids of africa are the ones that are doing very well. when you look at the mo ibrahim index, for example, mauritius is first, seychelles is second, cape verde s third. so you have three sids that are doing extremely well, but the focus is on mainland africa. but isn t that, in a sense, part of the point? you are doing relatively well. i believe your per capita income is over $10,000, which in african terms is pretty remarkable, and you re very small. your population is hovering around 100,000. so in the end, how can you expect to have a meaningful voice on the world stage?
i m not after your political affiliation, your political beliefs, but if you can serve the country, and the only thing that i ask of him is just this. ok, so if you are serious about this corruption clean up, are you serious about ending the seychelles status as one of the leading offshore tax havens in the world? you were cited in those paradise papers as one of the biggest tax havens for tax avoidance. it seems that continues. seychelles is working very closely with the 0ecd and with all the other organisations. and so far, i can again tell you, when i came into office in october 2020, seychelles was on the blacklist. but what did we do? straight away, we started working on that, and today, seychelles is on the grey list. well, it depends. some countries have you on a list, others do not. but here s how you re being sold. there is one company,
emerging countries. you said recently, the west prefers to give its money to countries that waste everything, where things just don t happen. that s a way of condemning so many other emerging economies, saying, we re better than them. no, no, we re not saying we are better than them. but what we are saying is, address all the issues. it s not because an island state like the seychelles is doing well that, suddenly, through this graduation process, again, you just cut off all the aid and you allow us to fend on ourselves. this will mean that the problem will come back. we re saying, help those who are more vulnerable, but at the same time, help us to maintain the level of development, help us to continue helping the world. because here i can tell
there is one company, offshore protection.com, which sells a seychelles option for offshoring money. it says this on its website it says, if you are looking for a tax haven, with a solid secrecy policy, seychelles may be the perfect choice. that s the reality. this is very good propaganda for that company. but the reality is due diligence is done on anybody who wants to invest in seychelles through the offshore, and there are a lot of people who are turned away, and seychelles is on the right track to achieving the status, the white list status. this, i can tell you. we have to end there, but president wavel ramkalawan, i thank you so much forjoining me on hardtalk. thank you very much, and all the very best. thanks.