President: A peaceful region is integral to ensuring peaceful nations

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has called on South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries to prioritize improving relations with its neighbours, and said that a peaceful region is integral to ensuring peaceful nations.

This came in the President’s message on the occasion of this year’s SAARC Charter Day, which read as follows: “South Asia also faces major environmental and natural disasters, and the region is prone to cross-border terrorism and violent extremism. We must join hands to assist each other in dealing with such disasters and work together to combat cross-border terrorism and violent extremism in all its forms and manifestations, if we are to continue prospering as a region. All SAARC Member States must work collectively together to deliver human security for our people, and ensure that terrorist organizations have no room to spread their venom in the region. The foreign policies of SAARC Member States should therefore prioritize improving relations with its neighbours, as a peaceful region is integral to ensuring peaceful nations. In this regard, the Maldives welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy, and encourages other Member States to adopt similar stances.”

President Yameen also reaffirmed the Maldives’ commitment to the SAARC ideals and pledged to foster greater regional cooperation for the advancement of South Asia, and called on SAARC countries to put aside their differences and work together to realize their common goal for a better and more prosperous future.