Bismillāhir-Raḥmānir-Raḥīm.
His Highness Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
Mr. Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is often said that small islands read the world differently.
We live close to the horizon, where every shift in tide or wind is felt immediately.
Perhaps for that reason, the Maldives has long treated dialogue not as diplomatic ritual but as a form of resilience, a way to remain steady in a world that rarely slows down for anyone.
In an era where divisions deepen both offline and online, UNAOC’s work is a safeguard against fragmentation. By anticipating emerging challenges such as climate-induced displacement and digital misinformation, it ensures that dialogue remains a force for unity and human dignity.
As UNAOC marks its twentieth anniversary, its enduring mission reminds us that building bridges between cultures is not a choice but a responsibility we share for a more peaceful and inclusive world.
Excellencies,
Dialogue is how we make sense of uncertainty; it is how we negotiate co-existence, and it is how we build trust in a world that is not always inclined towards us.
For countries like mine, dialogue is a necessity that shapes our security, our identity and our relationship far beyond our shores.
The Maldives does not come to admit the architecture of dialogue; we come to test its strength.
We come to ask whether our collective commitment to understanding is strong enough for a world in which division spreads faster than reason, and in which narratives harden long before facts are established.
A multipolar world is often described in terms of shifting power centres. But its deeper implications are cultural.
Polarisation is no longer confined to politics; it permeates the social and informational spaces people inhabit.
It shapes how communities interpret one another and how they interpret themselves.
Dialogue cannot afford to be decorative. It must help rebuild trust that has eroded across communities and countries.
Excellencies,
For the Maldives, this mission is inseparable from the environment that shapes our existence.
Long before climate change became a defining global issue, island societies understood that the stability of the natural world underpins the stability of the social world. When the environment fractures, cohesion fractures.
Today, rising seas threaten not only our physical territory but our cultural inheritance, our language, our traditions, our sense of continuity.
Cooperation is no longer optional; it is a matter of cultural survival. Any global commitment to respect among civilizations must include respect for the right of vulnerable nations to endure.
We face another form of fragility: the volatility of the digital sphere.
The new frontier of misunderstanding is not at borders but on screens. Hostility can be manufactured, identities distorted, and young people exposed to manipulation before they have the tools to recognize it.
What once took years to divide societies can now happen in days, leaving consequences that endure for generations.
As the UNAOC enters its next chapter, the Maldives believes our task is not only to respond to emerging divides, but to anticipate them. The world ahead will test our collective capacity for empathy, restraint, and imagination.
If we invest now in dialogue that is practical, inclusive, and grounded in human dignity, we can shape a future in which diversity is a source of stability rather than tension.
I thank you.
