Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has called to work within multilateral trading system towards sustainable and climate-resilient development.
The foreign minister made the appeal while delivering a keynote address at the Virtual High-Level Panel Discussion on Trade, the Environment and Sustainability held by the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The meeting, held under the theme: A Focus on Green Recovery in a COVID-19 Era, was co-hosted by the Permanent Missions of the Maldives and Barbados to the United Nations Office in Geneva.
In his address, Minister Shahid highlighted on the vulnerabilities of Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to environmental, economic and pandemic shocks. He outlined some of the policies undertaken by the Government of Maldives to mitigate the impact of the disruption of global supply chains, including amendments to relevant regulations to improve food security and ensuring the uninterrupted supply of essential food items. He also called for mechanisms which enhances debt relief for countries disproportionately affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is essential for a sustainable recovery.
Further, the minister shed light on the mutually reinforcing link between trade and environmental protection, and its role in ensuring sustainable development. He said SIDS are not adequately equipped to face natural disasters, and depend on a clean, healthy and sustainable environment for income and employment.
Finally, Minister Shahid called the post-pandemic recovery and re-building phase as an opportunity to shift the development paradigm and focus on trade and investment policies for sustainable and climate-resilient development. He called for unity and cooperation to build economic resilience to build back better and greener in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
During the meeting, the new Director-General of WTO Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations Amina J. Mohammed, and Executive Director of the International Trade Centre Pamela Coke-Hamilton delivered interventions.