19th September 2011, Male'; The Republic of Maldives has today signed an MOU with Christchurch College, University of Oxford to co-fund a scholarship each year for a student from the Maldives to undertake postgraduate study in the field of Environmental Sciences.

17th September 2011, Male';The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Naseem today reiterated the Maldives strong support for UN recognition of Palestinian statehood. He was speaking following the announcement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas that he will apply to the UN Security Council for full UN membership of a Palestinian state.

16th September 2011, Male'; The Republic of Maldives and the Republic of Benin established diplomatic relations, today. The Joint Communiqué formalising diplomatic relations between the two countries was signed on behalf of the Government of Maldives, by H.E. Mr Abdul Ghafoor Mohamed, Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations and by H.E. Mr. Jean-Francis Régis Zinsou, Permanent Representative of Benin to the United Nations, on behalf of the Government of Benin.

13th September 2011, Geneva; H.E. Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Republic of Maldives, today delivered the keynote address at a high-level meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council on "Peaceful Protests and the Muslim Awakening". The meeting was convened to reflect on recent human rights developments in North Africa and the Middle East. These have seen the autocratic governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya overthrown, challenges to the government of Syria, and the announcement of deep reforms in Morocco and Jordan. The President was invited to address the UN as someone who has been both a protester and, latterly, a President.

The General Assembly has held its 1st plenary meeting on 13 September 2011 where it set in place a Credentials Committee for its sixty-sixth session. The Maldives were prominently appointed by the General Assembly as one of the Committee's nine members, amongst them also China, the Russian Federation and the United States of America.

9th September 2011, Male'; The Fourth Conference of the Parties for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was held at the United Nations Headquarters on 9 September 2011. The theme of this three-day conference was "Enabling Development, Realizing the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities" and the sub-themes of the Conference were "Realizing the Convention through International Cooperation", "Political and Civil Participation" and "Work and Employment".

6th September 2011, Geneva; The Maldives today chaired the first meeting of a new intergovernmental gathering of countries dedicated to promoting human rights around the world. The "Article 4 Dialogue" brings together 23 progressive countries of the UN Human Rights Council with the aim of improving the performance of the body in line with its founding mandate - namely General Assembly Resolution 60/251.

6th September 2011 :- The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives H. E. Mr. Aslam Mohamed Shakir held a meeting today with the Ambassadors of Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDs) on 6 September 2011 in New York City.

04th September 2011, Male'; The Minister of Foreign Affairs His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Naseem met with the visiting Chinese Cultural Troupe, visiting the Maldives on their ‘Cultural China - Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage Performance' tour. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Her Excellency Ms. Hawla Ahmed Didi and Additional Secretary at the Ministry Dr. Hussain Niyaz also attended the call.

1 September 2011 :- The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives H. E. Mr. Aslam Mohamed Shakir attended the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Interregional Meeting on 1 September 2011 in New York City. This meeting was a preparatory meeting for the Rio+20 International Development Conference, aimed at securing a renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assesses the progress to date and the remaining gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits on sustainable development and address new and emerging challenges.

31 August 2011 :- The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives H. E. Mr. Aslam Mohamed Shakir arrived in New York City on 31 August 2011.State Minister Shakir will be in New York City until end of committee work of the United Nations General Assembly. During his stay he will focus on three key initiatives.

25th August 2011, Male :- The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Naseeem, today warmly welcomed the announcement made by President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka that Sri Lanka will not extend the state of emergency, as announced in a speech made to parliament.

25th August 2011, Male'; The Minister of State Aslam Shakir hosted a meeting of the visiting members of the MIGA with the Maldivian business community on Thursday afternoon at the Ministry.The meeting, jointly organized by the Ministry of Economic Development, The World Bank and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was attended by major industry associations and representatives of corporate entities, including the tourism, construction, banking, insurance and the fisheries sectors.During the meeting a the MIGA team made a presentation on the facilities offered by MIGA to encourage flow of FDIs to developing countries such as the Maldives and also to potential investors from the Maldives interested in investing in other developing countries.

23 August 2011, Geneva; The United Nations Human Rights Council today adopted a strong resolution on the human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic. The resolution "strongly condemns the continued grave and systematic human rights violations by the Syrian authorities" and establishes an "independent international commission of inquiry to investigate all alleged violations since March 2011". The Commission of Inquiry is expected to travel to Syria to catalogue human rights abuses and to ensure that the perpetrators are held accountable.

22 August 2011, Male; The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Naseem, today issued the following statement regarding events in Libya:

18thAugust 2011, Geneva; The Maldives, Germany (EU), Kuwait and Mexico have taken the lead in organising an Emergency or "Special" Session of the UN Human Rights Council on the deteriorating human rights situation in Syria. The Session comes a week after H.E. Mr. Ahmed Naseem, Minister of Foreign Affairs, issued a statement expressing alarm at the escalating violence waged by the Syrian authorities against peaceful protestors, especially during the Holy Month of Ramadan, and called on the international community to intervene.

13 August 2011, Geneva; The Maldives was yesterday reviewed by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination established under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

9th August 2011, Male; The Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives, H.E. Mr. Ahmed Naseem, today made the following statement:

5th August 2011, Geneva; The Maldives has signed a cooperation agreement with the Geneva-based International Organisation for Migration. In a ceremony held at the IOM's headquarters today, the Agreement was signed on behalf of the Government by the Maldives Ambassador in Geneva, H E Ms. Iruthisham Adam. Director General of the IOM Mr. William Swing signed on behalf of the IOM.

05th August 2011, Male'; The Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Mr. Ahmed Naseem today called on the H. E. Mr. Jean Paul Adam, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Seychelles at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.