Earlier this month, Abdulla Shahid, the Maldives’ foreign minister, was elected President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), which commences in September.
Last month, over two thousand high-level participants from across the world met in Antalya, Turkey for the Midterm Review of the Istanbul Programme of Action, an action plan used to guide sustainable economic development efforts for Least Developed Countries for the 2011 to 2020 period. The main goal was to understand the lessons learnt by the world’s Least Developed Countries (LDCs) over the past five years and apply the knowledge moving forward.
The Paris Climate Change Treaty represents an historic step forward in the international effort to address the crisis. The Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) played a key role in its adoption and were instrumental in winning the inclusion of the 1.5-degree temperature goal.
The 70th anniversary of the United Nations, which culminates at the high level segment of the General Assembly this week, has prompted numerous reflections on the organization’s many achievements: from its work to rebuild the world in the aftermath of war to scores of lifesaving health programs and peacekeeping efforts.
Since 1971, Maldives is one of only three countries that have graduated from the ranks of the world’s “least developed countries” (LDCs) – the other two being Botswana and Cape Verde.