CMAG Foreign Ministers welcomes Maldives' return to the Group

Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) today welcomed the return of Maldives as a fully participating member of the Group.

Maldives was barred from fully participating in the CMAG following the controversial change of government in February 2012.

Yesterday’s meeting was the first scheduled meeting to take place since CMAG decided to permit Maldives’ return to the Group at its meeting held in September 2012.

Resuming in Maldives’ place in CMAG at the meeting held in the Commonwealth Secretariat in London yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr. Abdul Samad Abdulla joined Commonweakth Secretary General Mr. Kamalesh Sharma, and the Foreign Minister of Australia, Bangladesh, Canada, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Trinidad and Tobago and Vanuatu to discuss the pressing issues on the CMAG agenda.

Foreign Minister Samad actively contributed to CMAG discussions, and thanked the Commonwealth Secretary General and Foreign Minister for their constructive engagement with Maldives last year.

Speaking earlier this week, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dhunya Maumoon said that Maldives’ invitation to return to CMAG reflected the Commonwealth’s recongnition of the cooperation of President Dr. Mohamed Waheed’s government in strengthening democracy in the Maldives.