On June 1, 2023, the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken disembarks from an airplane at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport in Vantaa, Finland. Blinken, the US Secretary of State, will meet with Finland's Prime Minister and the Finnish Foreign Minister during his visit on Friday. The U.S. State DepartmentState Department announced the move late Thursday after it unveiled plans to open a diplomatic mission in northern Norway, which will be its only such facility above the Arctic Circle.
The mission of the Seychelles embassy is part of a drive to counter China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The U.S. has a embassy in the Maldives and plans to open embassies in the Pacific, such as in the Solomon Islands, Tonga and Kiribati.
In 1996, the U.S. Embassy in Seychelles was shuttered as part of cost-saving measures following the end of the Cold War. American interests in the 115 island archipelago, about 1,500 kilometers 800 miles east of mainland Africa, were handled by diplomats based in Mauritius.
The time is right to rise the relationship so that together we can better address shared challenges and take advantage of mutually beneficial opportunities, said Antony Blinken, the chief of the U.S. State Department.
The U.S. will focus its efforts there on economic development, climate change, maritime security, and combating transnational crime and corruption.
Our joint pursuit of peace, democracy, and prosperity will be a beacon across Africa and the Indian Ocean region, he said.