Diplomacy / Maldives
“An ambitious transformative course”
Message from the President of the Republic of Maldives, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom
HE President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom
It is with great pleasure, and a great amount of pride, that I welcome you to this Maldives Special Edition. We have always felt a kinship and a strong bond with our brotherly countries of the Middle East; especially those of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
I, as do the people of the Maldives, cherish and take pleasure in celebrating the numerous forms of assistance, friendship and counsel from the GCC – we have always felt that our shared values on faith and culture bind our respective communities together in mutual respect and admiration. I have always had a passion for economics and economic development is one of the key focuses of my administration. I am proud to highlight that within my two years in office there has been significant economic progress. We have wrought an unprecedented reduction of the state budget deficit from double figures to near five per cent – our fiscal position is the healthiest it has been in decades.
I am certain that this ‘2016 Visit Maldives Year’ will keep our economic momentum going, leading us to further prosperity. Our mega-infrastructure projects, such as the bridge linking our capital directly to the expanded airport, will further widen our prospects for growth.
My administration is also focused on delivering a positive image of Islamic values, as well as opportunities for youth, broadened women’s rights, and primary and secondary education for all children. I have an ambitious transformative course in mind for our nation – one that I hope will resonate with a progressive and energetic youth workforce such as ours. I hope to transform our economy and distil from it the best opportunities for our people.
We will double our per capita GDP and along the way we will build our human capital – we will create an even more passionate and skilled workforce and supply the means to support this surge.
Through it all we will rely on the trust, goodwill and assistance of our brotherly countries of the GCC. We will prosper together and build opportunities together bringing our nations ever closer and enrich our people with wealth, culture and faith.
Once again I thank you for this opportunity and pray for our continued mutual success.
