President Takes Part in Asia Regional Commonwealth Heads of Government Roundtable

A virtual event was held on Monday, titled the Asia Regional Commonwealth Heads of Government roundtable, initiated by His Royal Highness The Princes of Wales. His Royal Highness’ Roundtables are designed to help establish areas of joint Commonwealth action in the lead up to COP26. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih took part in the event, alongside Heads of Government of Singapore, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.  

The roundtable event was aimed at ensuring that countries who pledged climate financing uphold their commitments to assist small island states in tackling climate change. Prince of Wales called on all nations to scale up their climate ambitions to secure global mean temperatures at a stable 1.5 degrees.  

Addressing the attendees, Presdient Solih spoke about how the tiny archipelago’s economy is intertwined with the ocean. He stressed on the urgency of the matter of protecting the resources we have in order to rebuild our economies in a more circular and sustainable manner.  

Speaking furthee, he highlighted that resilience and adaptation are the key pillars in Maldives’ climate plans. Evidently, huge investments in the form of financial help is important to be secured to materialize the efforts. President Solih requested for clean technology investments and strengthened capacity required to realize the Maldives’ goals to counter the adverse effects of climate change. He also urged the participants to advocate for this at the COP26 summit scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021. 

The steps taken by his administration towards transforming Maldives’ development approach towards greener and more resilient pathways were also discussed at the roundtable. The country has recently ratified its Climate Emergency Act to include a framework for Maldives’ ambitious plan to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Moreover, Maldives is in partnership with Blue Prosperity Coalition for maritime spatial planning and that designated protected areas had been established in every atoll in the nation. 

The meeting was the concluding event in a series of regional Commonwealth Roundtables where His Royal Highness has engaged with Commonwealth Heads of Governments on topics of economic recovery, climate change and sustainable investment opportunities. This initiative was co-sponsored by the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of Rwanda as incoming and outgoing Chairs-in-Office of the Commonwealth.