Welcome to Hard Talk from the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. My guest today trained as an

Anglican priest. He then decided to enter the ungodly world of politics. Having failed in his first

bid to be president of the island nation of Seychelles in 1998, he returned to the fray, time and again. It wasn't easy. The United Seychelles Party

had established a firm grip on power soon after independence in 1976, that is, until 2020,

when finally, Weaveral Ramcaloan and his National Party won power.

Since then, this island nation, which is heavily reliant on tourism,

has had to weather the storm of the COVID pandemic.

Climate change poses a long-term threat to the beaches, reefs, and marine ecosystem on which the islanders depend.

And shockingly, Seychelles has one of the highest

heroin addiction rates in the world. And President Ramcaloan is still trying to clean up a political

culture tainted by allegations of corruption. So, is this a story of paradise lost? Well, President Wevel Ramcaloan joins me now. Welcome to

Hard Talk. Thank you very much. Well, it's a pleasure to have you in this studio. You in the Seychelles

are known at the UN as one of the SIDS nations. That's the small island developing states. Do you think the world

listens to the SIDS? I would say no. In fact, as an African country, when the world talks about

Africa, they don't really pay attention to the seeds. And yet, the seeds of Africa are the ones that are doing

very well. When you look at the Moe-Ibrahim Index, Mauritius is first, Seychelles is second,

Cabo Verde is third. You have three seeds 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?

Even though we're doing well, because we are island states, we are most exposed to climate change, and therefore we are most vulnerable.

So when we talk about states graduating from a developing country to a high

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