BY S. Sultan

On 25 October 2022, the third Senior Officials Meeting between the Maldives and the European Union (EU) was held in Male Maldives. This meeting confirmed the constructive and rising impetus in the affairs between the two sides over the previous years. The Maldives and the European Union reconfirmed their robust mutual interest in further consolidating their bilateral relations, embedded in mutual values and promises, the principles of the UN Charter and international law, and to further deepening the commitment, including through the implementation of the EU Strategy for collaboration in the Indo-Pacific.

The EU applauded the optimistic helps made by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives in his capacity as the President of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and commended him for the successful completion of his term.

The EU also greeted the Government of Maldives’ commitment towards consolidation of egalitarian governance, firming the rule of law and combating corruption, upgrading and protecting of human rights and implementing improvements in the justice sector. The EU reconfirmed its incessant robust support of the Maldives’ activities and standing for these reforms to be applied.

As close partners in the multifaceted sphere, both Maldives and EU restated their purposes to enlarge the current partnership and work diligently in the UN and all related multilateral fora including to address global tasks such as peace, harmony and safety, climate change and biodiversity, water and plastic contamination.

The EU praised the Maldives on being elected to the UN Human Rights Council for the term 2023-2025 and showed hope for sturdy collaboration in the elevation and safety of human rights in the multilateral framework. The Maldives and the EU underscored the prominence committed to the freedom of expression and viewed as indispensable foundations for democracy and the rule of law. The Maldives and EU also stressed their continued resilient support to civil society.

The Maldives greeted the EU’s Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (MIP) for the Maldives in the future, the first dedicated envelope to the Maldives since 2013. With EUR 12 million (MVR 178.6 million) allocated for the period 2021-2024 under the MIP,  both the Maldives and EU agreed to deepen cooperation in the green transition, climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection and circular economy, and continued support for good governance, rule of law and security.

Through the MIP, the Maldives would get support from the EU in crucial areas of the Strategic Action Plan 2019-2023 and the National Resilience and Recovery Plan. The Maldives especially hailed the EU’s new actions for judiciary improvements and biodiversity safety.

The Maldives and the EU agreed on the need to augment security cooperation, especially in areas of counterterrorism and preventing violent extremism and agreed to explore avenues and expand the partnership, including through a new project focused on increasing security in the Maldives. As partners in trade and investment, both the Maldives and the EU agreed to enhance economic cooperation through mechanisms such as the Business Roundtable initiative.

The EU and the Maldives are committed to the global fight against unlawful, unreported and unfettered fishing and look forward to consolidating their mutual partnership in this domain. Maintainable management of fish stocks through the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission was also discussed. The Government of the Maldives repeated its appeal to the EU to think about granting duty-free access to sustainably sourced tuna products from the Maldives. Remembering the significance of increasing people-to-people ties between the two sides.

The Maldives also reiterated its request for visa-free travel for Maldivian nationals to visit to EU Member states. The Third Senior Officials Meeting between the Maldives and the EU was held in a hybrid set-up with the debates co-chaired by the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Managing Director for Asia and Pacific at the European External Action Service.