Many small island nations want to visit the Maldives to study the nation’s efforts, which are seen as a positive example in championing issues of import to small island nations, according to Ahmed Shiaan, Secretary Multilateral at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Speaking during a televised interview, Shiaan highlighted the Maldives’ leadership role in the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS4). The Maldives’ leadership has been recognised by many nations around the world, and small island states at SIDS4 also had high expectations of the Maldives, said the former Ambassador to the UK, EU, Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Shiaan explained that President Mohamed Muizzu met with several world leaders during SIDS4 who highlighted, and complimented, the Maldives for the nation’s contributions.
Small island nations have expressed their solidarity to follow in the Maldives’s example, he said, with some leaders, during meetings with the President, expressing their desire to visit the Maldives.
“Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Kiribati; these nations expressed a need to visit and experience the Maldives’ achievement through a study tour, at the highest level. How we are reclaiming land, how we are building safe islands to avoid rising oceans,” Shiaan explained.
The Maldives is the leading authority worldwide when it comes to the Safe Island concept, highlighted Shiaan, going on to explain that although the country was not a very rich nation, there are ways in which smaller nations can contribute on a larger scale.
The administration is exploring ways the Maldives can assist nations which are similarly disadvantaged, Shiaan said.