Khaled Mohammed Balama, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), and Caroline Abel, Governor of the Central Bank of Seychelles (CBS) have signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) in Abu Dhabi to foster local currencies and payment systems.
The first MoU focuses on creating a framework that would facilitate the use of local currencies in bilateral commercial transactions, developing the exchange market, facilitating bilateral trade and direct investment, remittance settlements, and the financial market development.
The agreement contains many elements to facilitate the settlement of commercial transactions in the UAE Dirham and Seychellois rupee, adhering to the laws and legislation of both countries.
The second MoU will focus on strengthening the cooperation and mutual benefit from the services of Instant Payment Platforms (IPP), electronic switches and messaging system directly by adhering to the laws of the two countries. This contains interlinking the Instant Payment Platform (IPP) which is being developed by CBUAE with a similar platform in Seychelles.
Balama stated that this agreement highlights the Central Bank’s dedication to expanding its relations with both regional and international counterparts to improve the UAE’s economic and commercial partnerships on a global scale.
Khaled Mohamed Balama Governor – CBUAE
“The use of the two countries’ currencies for cross-border financial and commercial transactions reflects the growing trade, investment and financial cooperation and contribution to reducing and saving the time in settling transactions. This helps in developing the foreign exchange market in the UAE dirham and the Seychelles rupee, leading to enhancing trade exchange, investments, and remittance between the two countries.”
Caroline Abel commented that, “For small open island economics like Seychelles, the importance of an effective and efficient financial system to facilitate trade cannot be overemphasized. In this regard, the MoU just signed between our two central banks, guided by the relevant and applicable laws to safeguard the soundness and integrity of our respective financial systems can assist this endeavor.”
“With the Central Bank of Seychelles spearheading efforts to modernize and develop the Seychelles national payment system, in line with the Government’s digital economy agenda, the opportunity to collaborate on interlinking our payment and messaging systems will facilitate the processing and settlement of cross-border financial transactions between the two countries,” Abel added.
