President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Saturday met with the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres. The meeting took place at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) in Doha, Qatar. The President is currently on a visit to the country to attend the Fifth United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC5).
At the meeting, the President and Secretary-General had lengthy talks about the United Nations’ involvement in assisting the Maldives’ growth through its different aid organisations working in the Maldives. The President emphasised that the United Nations continues to be an instrumental partner in the Maldives’ trajectory to increased growth over the years. He added that the UN plays an essential role in assisting key government agencies to improve their abilities to deliver the Maldives’ objective in accordance with Agenda 30.
The President and Secretary-General discussed ways to improve collaboration between relevant UN organisations and public sector groups in order to better serve the people, including looking into investments to close existing infrastructure gaps in order to boost tourism, increase resilience to climate change, and achieve the SDGs. They also discussed exploring other sustainable trade and fisheries avenues to reduce over-dependency in one economic sector.
Speaking at the meeting, Secretary-General Guterres recalled fond memories of working closely with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Abdulla Shahid (ODRI), during his tenure as President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), describing it as a “remarkable presidency,” and stating that the Maldives embody everything the UN stands for.
The President praised the Secretary-General’s decision to convene a “Climate Ambition Summit” alongside the 2023 SDG Summit and voiced confidence on establishing the “loss and damage” fund as agreed at the COP27.
Concluding the meeting, President Solih commended Secretary-General Guterres for his excellent leadership and commitment to combating climate change. He then reaffirmed the Maldives’ dedication to preserving the spirit of multilateralism and working closely with the UN.
The Maldives marked 57 years of membership at the United Nations on September 21, 2022.
