President: Safeguarding Maldives from terrorism is a high priority

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has stated that the government is very much focused on stopping and preventing acts of terrorism in the Maldives. 

The President was speaking in the first exercise testing of the National Terrorism Response Plan (NTRP) yesterday when he made the remarks.  

President Solih, said that the government places a high priority on keeping the Maldives safe from terrorism and violent extremism while praising the NTRP as the first comprehensive multi-agency document that will help the country work towards this.

The High Commissioner of the United Kingdom, Ms. Caron Rohsler, also spoke in the ceremony outlining her appreciation for the Maldivian government's willingness to collaborate on anti-terrorism efforts, and its openness towards positive engaging on other issues of mutual interest, such as climate change.

The NTRP is a plan which describes how different agencies responsible for the Maldivian national security will coordinate their efforts to help the country respond to and recover from a terrorist incident.

Exercises held today were conducted in order to test protocols and provisions and focused on the strategic level response to a terrorist incident. Participants of the exercises included cabinet ministers, members of the National Security Council, heads of agencies and members of national security services.