Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mohamed Asim on Saturday said that the international community should “value us by our abilities, not our vulnerabilities”, and has urged the international community to evaluate progress in the Maldives against its own progress, instead of against inappropriate benchmarks. He made the remarks in his Address to the UN General Assembly in New York.
Speaking in the context of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, the Minister noted three overarching themes: the holistic approach of the Agenda as well as the recognition that poverty is multi-dimensional, the necessity of a differentiated approach even within a universal agenda, and the need to be inclusive. Across these areas, the Minister noted several issues of importance for the Maldives, including people-focused development policies, climate change policy, empowering women and girls, investing in health and education, as well as the specific vulnerabilities faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS). “This is why we have made it our aim to deliver easily accessible healthcare to every citizen; a feat that is extremely challenging for a population of 338,000 dispersed over 188 islands. This is why we have ensured free healthcare, provided sea-ambulances in all twenty atolls, and established a pharmacy in every inhabited island. This is why we haven’t stopped at achieving nearly 100% literacy, but continue to invest in teacher quality, continuously improving and updating our curriculums and our approach. This is why we aim to provide affordable social housing, especially to all vulnerable groups of our society. This is why we aim to empower people with disabilities through financial and material support, as well as housing for people with disabilities. And this is why we have chosen to focus on the youth: improving their lives, their livelihood opportunities, and their aspirations,” he said.
The Minister noted that “SIDS are uniquely vulnerable to shocks: economic, environmental and institutional.” Speaking on the challenges for SIDS, he said that “the criteria by which we use to rank development needed to be updated, to reflect the vulnerability of economies, highlighting that access to large-scale financing needed for large-scale infrastructure projects is restricted, which in turn could make it difficult to maintain and sustain the development gains that enabled countries like the Maldives to graduate in the first place.” Reflecting on the democratisation process that began in the Maldives only a decade ago, Dr. Asim also noted that for the implementation of ambitious agendas, institutional structures needed to be sufficient and capable. Highlighting the need to give space to these institutions to form and grow organically, Minister Asim also informed the General Assembly that unless small States are able to build strong institutions, they would not be able to build resilience.
The United Nations, Minister Asim noted, is still best placed to support the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, due to the knowledge it can draw on, and its power of convening. However, he noted, the need to increase representation in the main bodies of the United Nations, which currently do not include many SIDS.
“We do not believe that might or size determines destiny; our ability, our motivation, our will to work, and our ideas do”, Minister Asim stated, following which he announced the Maldives candidature to the United Nations Security Council for the term 2019-2020. Why? “Because we believe this opportunity is necessary, and because we believe we can! Because we believe that it must be intent, it must be resolve, and it must be fairness and the principle of representation that decides these opportunities” the Minister answered.