Maldives has shared climate change eforts with US Council on Foreign Relations. During his visit to the United States from June 24-27, Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer engaged with the US -Council on Foreign Relations to discuss the Maldives’ initiatives in combating climate change.

Foreign Minister Zameer presented the Maldivian government’s climate change policies to members of the US Council on Foreign Relations. He highlighted President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s strong commitment to addressing climate change and shared ongoing efforts to mitigate its impacts.

In addition to his engagement with the Council, Minister Zameer met with several US Congress members, including Congressman Michael McCaul and Congresswoman Young Kim, to further discuss climate change and other bilateral issues.

The visit began in Washington, DC, where Foreign Minister Zameer held talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Their discussions focused on strengthening Maldives’ military, democracy, economy, and climate change mitigation efforts.

In Washington, he also met with Samantha Power, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Foreign Minister expressed gratitude for USAID’s assistance to the Maldives and explored avenues for future cooperation.

Minister Zameer also took the opportunity to connect with Maldivians living in Washington.

Following his engagements in Washington, the Foreign Minister arrived in New York. There, he is scheduled to meet with the UN Secretary-General and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

In New York, Minister Zameer will engage with Maldivian communities in New York and New Jersey. He is also set to meet with tour operators and travel advisors in New York to strengthen tourism ties.

Minister Zameer’s visit underscores the Maldives’ commitment to addressing climate change and enhancing international cooperation in this critical area.

Source(s): PsmNews

Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed has discussed with Chinese banks seeking avenues for trade and economic growth for the Maldives.

The minister is currently in China, to attend the 15th World Economic Forum, held at the Dalian Congress Hall, in Dalian Province.

In the sidelines of the forum, the minister visited various Chinese banks to meet its senior officials, and discussed on ways to form strategic alliance to help boost the country’s economic growth.

He met with the senior officials of the China Industrial and Commercial Bank (ICBC) on Thursday, to discuss strategies for further engagement, and later met with the senior officials of the Bank of China to explore ways in strengthening cooperation between the two countries.

Minister Saeed confirmed of his meetings on X on Thursday.

In both his meetings, the minister reflected on the discussions for improved trade relations between the Maldives President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu and Chinese President Xi Jinping, during the former’s official state visit to China earlier on January 06th.

Besides this, the minister on Wednesday met with the Chinese Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao, for discussions related to the free trade agreement (FTA) between the Maldives and China.

The chief of this discussion was on establishing a currency settlement system between the two countries, to enhance trade and commerce ties.

It is a key priority of Dr. Muizzu’s administration to seek such currency settlement agreements with bigger economic allies and frequent trade collaborators, to enhance trade convenience.

Meanwhile, Saeed said the governments of both China and India have confirmed to facilitate transactions in their currencies for the goods imported to the Maldives from these countries.

Source(s): sun.mv

Finance Minister Dr. Mohamed Shafeeg states MVR 2.5 billion has been saved so far this year as a result of the steps implemented by the government to reduce cost.

Speaking at a meeting of the Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday, Minister Shafeeg said the results envisioned with the fiscal reforms and cost reduction steps implemented by the government have now begun emerging.

He emphasized the need to implement additional fiscal reforms in order to undertake the projects wanted by the government despite saving MVR 2.5 billion with the reforms and steps that have already been implemented. He noted that some sectors of the government were producing a significant amount of financial waste and in this trajectory, underscored the need to reform the management of state-owned companies.

While an MVR 49.8 billion budget has been passed for the prevailing year, Minister Shafeeg says significant difficulties will come into play in the future if reforms are not implemented. He said the government had initially planned to implement reforms by mid-year as the government is already facing difficulties in financing the budget.

“However, we had work by implementing reforms from day one; the result of which we are now seeing,” he added.

He detailed that MVR 17 million had been saved per month, to date, as a result of these reforms.

The Minister revealed that the government has begun implementing reforms in the health sector which could save a significant amount of money.

Referring to President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s decision to implement a policy focused on cost reduction, revenue growth, and a medium-term revenue strategy during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Minister Shafeeg said efforts are presently underway to formulate a timeline for the implementation of the agenda.

“Implementing this reform is no longer an option for us, but rather, something necessary,” he stressed.

Henceforth, he appealed for the cooperation of parliamentarians in this endeavor.

Finance Ministry had earlier warned that the budget deficit listed at MVR 14 billion initially in this year’s budget will climb up to MVR 20 billion if expenses are continued without fiscal reforms.

They had announced significant steps to reduce costs in February in light of this, which targeted to reduce expenditure through seven main aspects; promotions to staff, official trips, introduction of new allowances and similar aspects in this trajectory.

Parliament began inquiring about the exact details of state finances after alarms were raised by Deputy Speaker Ahmed Nazim.

Initially, Minister Shafeeg had been summoned to a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee on Monday for the purpose. However, he had been unable to attend that day due to poor health.

Source(s): sun.mv