بســم اللّـه الرّحمـن الرّحيــم
Excellency, Prime Minister Dato’ Najib Razak,
The people of the Maldives and I are greatly honoured by your presence here with us today.
Your visit is reflective of the special and unique nature of our fraternal ties and serves to emphasize the importance you and your Government attaches to the preservation and strengthening of the bonds of friendship and understanding that our two countries continue to enjoy.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Prime Minister Dato’ Najib Razak and I, just finished our Talks covering a multitude of areas including bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest to both our countries.
During our discussions, as two peace-loving Islamic nations, we agreed to increase our collaborative efforts to strengthen the solidarity of the Muslim Ummah and promote the true values of Islam internationally. In particular, we discussed the situation in Palestine, as well as the dire plight of the Rohingya Muslims and agreed to collaborate more closely on these issues.
We concluded 4 cooperation MOUs covering such key areas as education, health, culture and civil defence, aimed at enhancing our relations further.
In the area of economic cooperation, I thanked Prime Minister Dato’ Najib Razak for the invaluable contributions by Malaysia in the socio-economic development of the Maldives over the years and expressed our wish to see investors from Malaysia seize the available opportunities in the Maldives. We agreed to set up an appropriate mechanism that will promote business, trade and investment cooperation as well as enhance collaboration between private sector operators.
As youth development is a key priority area of my Government, I discussed with the Prime Minister the need for youth exchanges, especially in the area of sports, and we agreed to collaborate closely in empowering our youth.
Over the years the Maldives has benefited immensely from the excellent educational opportunities available in Malaysia and Malaysia’s contribution to the human resource development in the Maldives has been remarkable. The MOU we just signed on higher education will further enhance higher education opportunities for our students.
As our two countries are well-known tourist destinations, we discussed the potential for win-win cooperation in the area of tourism and hospitality and agreed to work closely in this area.
The Maldives and Malaysia have been collaborating closely in addressing global issues. Malaysia has been a reliable, consistent, and a staunch supporter of the Maldives. The Prime Minister and I discussed key international issues of mutual concern and decided to cooperate more closely at the United Nations.
We exchanged views on the critical issue of climate change and sustainable development and agreed to work closely to implement the commitments we have undertaken in Paris in 2015. I assured the Prime Minister our firm commitment and resolve to exert our leadership on these issues as the Chair of AOSIS.
The Prime Minister and I also discussed issues relating to terrorism, violent extremism and radicalization and we unequivocally agreed to redouble our joint efforts to combat this menace that threatens the world.
Mr Prime Minister,
Our talks today signify the commitment of the two countries to further enhance and consolidate our traditional, brotherly relations.
Thank you, Excellency Prime Minister Najib Razak once again for undertaking this visit to the Maldives.
