The Netherlands and Seychelles to work closely on fighting cryptocurrency crimes 

The outgoing Ambassador of the Netherlands to Seychelles, Maarten Brouwer, with President Ramkalawan. (Seychelles Nation)

Photo license  

The Netherlands and Seychelles will work closely on fighting cryptocurrency crimes and a mission from the northwestern European country is expected in the island nation this year, said the outgoing Dutch ambassador on Tuesday.

The outgoing Ambassador of the Netherlands to Seychelles, Maarten Brouwer, made the announcement to reporters after his farewell visit to President Wavel Ramkalawan at State House.

Brouwer said that during his mandate, one of the strong points was the cooperation between the public prosecutors’ offices in both countries working on cryptocurrency.

The expected mission from the Netherlands aims to “start talking about what is happening here in Seychelles and what we notice of it,” he said. 

He added that cryptocurrency is one of the markets criminals use to finance their needs.

“We have a clear interest in trying to fight what are global organisations to attack them by not only confiscating their drugs that come into the ports but also to undermine their financial structure,” said the outgoing ambassador.

Brouwer explained that his country needs to consult different countries and regions to understand how they run their operations.

Maritime security and the passage of container ships in the Red Sea were also discussed during the meeting.

“It is of importance for the Seychelles because if ships cannot sail through the Red Sea and goods need to be delivered to Europe or coming through Europe it will increase the costs quite substantially,” he said.

He added that the Netherlands is the sixth shipping nation in the world and “quite a lot of the cargo that we export passes through the Red Sea.”

Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, recently joined a US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian to ensure the safety of such vessels passing through the Red Sea. The Netherlands is also part of the operation.

Seychelles and the Netherlands established diplomatic relations in April 1977.