The Minister of Youth, Sports and Family of the Republic of Seychelles, Mrs Marie-Céline Zialor, in her capacity as President of the Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l’Océan Indien (CJSOI), had a working session, today, in Port Louis, with the organising committee of the 12th edition of the CJSOI Games, scheduled in Mauritius for December 2022.
The CJSOI is a regional intergovernmental commission founded in 1988 to foster regional cooperation, following a meeting of the CONFEJES (Conférence des Ministres de la Jeunesse et des Sports) one year earlier. The CJSOI Games, held every two years, were introduced in 1994, with the objectives of promoting sporting culture and friendship ties among young people aged 14 to 17 years old. Participating countries are: Comoros, Djibouti, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion and the Seychelles.
The Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Recreation, Mr Stephan Toussaint; the General Secretary of the CJSOI, Mr Ashok Cheetamun, and other personalities were also present at the working session.
Following the meeting, Minister Toussaint said that a report on progress achieved so far in respect of the preparation, accommodation and venues of the sporting events was presented to Mrs Zialor. He underlined that Mauritius had to uphold its reputation and would hold its own even in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. “In a year’s time, the youth from the Indian Ocean will be sharing a good time in Mauritius through the CJSOI Games,” he stated.
As President of the Commission de la Jeunesse et des Sports de l’Océan Indien (CJSOI), the seychelles minister stated that the working session focused, among others, on the improvements to be made since the last edition of the Game held in 2018 in Djibouti. She also expressed her satisfaction at the way preparations for the Games were progressing.
Recalling that Mauritius hosted successfully the last Indian Ocean Island Games in 2019, she affirmed that the country was able to shoulder the responsibility of the CJSOI Games and that preparations were well on track. She thus congratulated the organising team for the fantastic works they put in in light of the upcoming Games, especially in the difficult context brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.
