Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef has held extensive discussions on Monday with Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), emphasising the importance of debt restructuring for the Maldives. The meeting, part of Latheef’s visit to Geneva, Switzerland, to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, underscored the administration’s commitment to further cooperation and collaboration with the WTO.
Latheef and Dr Okonjo-Iweala explored ways to increase foreign direct investment into the Maldives, strengthen the country’s relationship with the WTO, and discover new avenues of cooperation, the President’s Office said.
In Geneva, Latheef also met with Riyad Al-Maliki, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Palestine. They discussed the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, with Latheef expressing the Maldives’ profound solidarity with the people of Palestine in their struggle for independence. He reaffirmed the government’s unwavering support for the Palestinian people’s legitimate quest for inalienable rights, including self-determination.
Latheef also met with Inés María Chapman Waugh, the Deputy Prime Minister of Cuba, which currently holds the chairmanship of the Group of 77 (G77) and China. They discussed strengthening relations between the two countries, the G77 and China, enhancing bilateral ties and avenues of cooperation, including technical and economic development cooperation, environment and climate change cooperation, and cooperation in the Human Rights Council.