11 July 2015, Male’,
Foreign Minister has today hosted an Iftar to the Ambassadors and High Commissioners and Members of the Diplomatic Community resident in Male’. Speaking at the event held in Bandos this evening, Minister stated that ‘as we approach the end of Ramadan, we are getting ready to welcome two important festivals, the first is the Eid al Fitri and the other is the Golden Jubilee of Independence that is on the 26 of this month”.
Continuing with her remarks Minister noted that with the independence the Maldives gained on 26 July 1965, it also gained the ability to shape its own foreign policy, to engage in a mutually beneficial relationship with the friends of our own choosing, and to shape our own destiny. Minister further highlighted that “successive Governments after its independence pursed policies crafted in sustaining and strengthening that independence. “Former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom was keenly aware of the complexities and turbulence in our neighbourhood and beyond and crafted his foreign policy with a view of enhancing our independence and it was that philosophy that guided the extraordinary success that the Maldives accomplished in its diplomacy in 1980s, 1990s and in the early 2000.
Minister further underscored that it was those core values that President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom is striving to cultivate again. “This Government believes that the Maldives can maintain the country’s independence only by intensifying our engagement with the rest of the world’. It should be an engagement that is based on mutual respect, mutual trust, and one that is mutually beneficial. Minister noted.
Today’s iftar was attended by resident Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Male’, members of the Diplomatic community and Senior Officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
ENDS