الحزب الديمقراطي الليبرالي في جزر سيشيل الجميلة ....

Quote: ALN GENERAL ASSEMBLY – OPENING CEREMONY, DECEMBER 04, 2009 Minister Lamine Ba, President of the Africa Liberal Network, ALN Coordinator Nick Branson, Representatives of the Africa Liberal Network, Colleagues and Friends From the bottom of my heart may I say: welcome to Seychelles. It is a great pleasure to be here to say a few words on behalf of the Seychelles National Party and also on behalf of the people of Seychelles. We all join together to wish you a happy stay in our country. Our only regret is that your stay will be so short. Most of you arrived yesterday afternoon and some are only arriving this morning as we speak. All of you will be off and away again by Sunday. I can only hope that this short stay will serve to convince you that you should come back again one day to visit our beautiful islands and get to know them better. I hope that by the time you leave you will all have a friend here, so that when you come back you will have another warm welcome. It is a proud moment for the Seychelles National Party to be acting as your host for the General Assembly of the Africa Liberal Network. In 2003, I was present in Johannesburg, South Africa, together with our Secretary-General, Roger Mancienne, when the Africa Liberal Network was launched. The foundation document of our network is called the Johanesburg Declaration, of which we are founder signatories. Since then, the ALN has held a General Assembly each year. It has held several conferences, workshops and meetings in various countries of Africa. This is the first event to be held in Seychelles. It is an occasion we have wished for a long time. I know that getting to Seychelles is a little harder and a little more expensive than going to other countries on the continent but we are very happy that you have decided to come anyway, at last. I extend our thanks to President Lamine Ba and to Co-ordinator Nick Branson who have joined minds and worked hard to make this happen. I am sure you will find it worth the journey. The Seychelles National Party has been a loyal and active member of the ALN since its foundation. It is in the same spirit that we are assisting you in organizing this General Assembly which I can see from the agenda, has much to do. You will be dealing with the administrative business of the organization, considering a number of new membership applications, reviewing activities for the past year and making plans for the coming year. You will also be discussing issues and policies which are at the centre of liberal politics, in particular the role of Women and Youth in Politics. I am sure the conclusions you arrive at will be important for the programme of our member parties. I hope that this meeting will also achieve the important objective of strengthening solidarity among member parties. We call ourselves liberal parties because we are committed, first and foremost, to the defence of liberty and respect for the rights of human beings. There is no standard definition of ‘liberal politics’ but to me I think the cardinal point is that liberals believe that liberty is the rule and not the exception, limited only by the necessary framework of laws to ensure the liberty and rights of others. We are committed to the enlargement of freedom, to fully democratic processes of government, to free and fair enterprise within a sound regulatory framework, to social justice and human development and dignity. I am here to express the solidarity of the SNP to all our member parties. I want to express special support to many of you who face very difficult political situations in your home country, and this happens to be the majority of us here. Africa as a whole is a difficult place for political parties working for liberal ideals, but some of our members come from countries with especially difficult circumstances – Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Sudan are some of the places which face daunting situations. So brothers and sisters, we are here also to support each other so that we may better face the task of participating in the national affairs of our country as is our right and as we have undertaken to do as political parties. I hope your discussions will be very fruitful and that you will have an unforgettable time in Seychelles. I want to thank those who have helped us to organize this meeting, and thank you to the representatives of the press who are here today. I want to thank all the delegates for coming to Seychelles.