The Minister of Climate Change & Environment of UAE Pays a Courtesy Call on President

The Minister of Climate Change and Environment of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Her Excellency Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri has paid a courtesy call on the President of the Maldives, His Excellency Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The meeting took place at the President’s Office during the morning hours of Wednesday, 17^th May 2023.

At the meeting with the minister, President Solih welcomed Minister Almheiri to the Maldives and conveyed his greetings and good wishes to the leadership of UAE. During the meeting, the President also reflected on the Maldives’ long-standing fraternal bonds of friendship with UAE, rooted as it is in shared values stemming from Islamic and cultural connections. Speaking at the meeting, Minister Almheiri commended the administration’s outstanding initiatives to combat climate change. She particularly underscored the ambitious vision of the Maldives to achieve the net-zero target by 2030.

In addition to this, the President and the Minister also spoke about working closely to ensure the success of the upcoming 28^th Conference of the Parties (COP28) to the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC), which will be held in Expo City Dubai from 30^th November-12^th December 2023. In this regard, President Solih expressed his hopes that the process of the Global Stock to evaluate the progress of the implementation of the Paris Agreement would produce beneficial outcomes.

The President also reiterated the Maldives’ support for the UAE’s presidency of the COP28 and displayed his confidence in the operationalization of the Loss and Damage Fund which was agreed upon at the COP27. On this note, Minister Almheiri remarked that it is a crucial matter of importance that will be addressed in COP28 and spotlighted the UAE’s continued efforts to strengthen adaptation and mitigation plans to counter the impact of climate change.