Newly appointed ambassadors from three countries presents credentials to President

Three newly appointed foreign ambassadors to the Maldives have presented their credentials to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih today.

Ambassador of Colombia to the Maldives Mariana Pacheco Montes

Mariana Pacheco Montes, the newly appointed Ambassador of Colombia to the Maldives presented her letter of credentials to President Solih during a ceremony held at the President’s Office this morning,

A meeting between the two was held following the credentials ceremony at which President Solih welcomed Ambassador Montes to the Maldives, and congratulated her on this appointment and the commencement of her tenure.

The Ambassador and the President discussed a wide range of topics during their meeting such as strengthening of bilateral relations, trade relations, human resources, and capacity development.

President Solih highlighted that developmental efforts are the foremost priority of his administration. On this note, he added that Maldives is interested welcome foreign investors in a wide range of areas including the higher education sector and manufacturing.

He also spoke regarding tourism at length – highlighting how the country reopened its borders after the COVID-19 pandemic.

With reference to a speech by President Solih during the recently held COP26, Ambassador Montes highlighted that Colombia and the Maldives share a common interest on the environmental protection front. In this regard, she said that Columbia shares a large portion of the Amazon rainforest, of which its protection is key to not only for the tourism sector but for the survival of Colombia as a nation.

President Solih replied that environmental protection and climate change are also critical issues for the Maldives. They both discussed existential threats posed by rising sea levels and how small lifestyle changes could go a long way, including opting for renewable energy and the ban of single-use plastics.

Concluding the meeting, both the President and the Ambassador reiterated mutual commitment to improving ties between the two countries.

Ambassador of Thailand to the Maldives Poj Harnpol

Poj Harnpol, the newly appointed Ambassador of Thailand to the Maldives also presented his credentials to President Solih at a ceremony held at the President’s Office this morning.

A meeting between the two was held following the credentials ceremony at which President Solih welcomed Ambassador Harnpol to the Maldives, and congratulated him on this appointment and the commencement of his tenure.

President Solih also shared insights on the Maldives' close bilateral relations with Thailand. Diplomatic ties between both countries were established on June 21, 1979.

The President and the Ambassador also discussed potential areas of cooperation such as investment prospects, trade and commerce, increasing people-to-people contact, human rights protection and combatting climate change. President Solih also stressed his government’s commitment to exploring higher education scholarship opportunities for Maldivian students.

Ambassador Harnpol also expressed interest in exploring other areas of cooperation on mutually beneficial themes.

President Solih also notes and thanked the support provided by Thai government over the years – particularly mentioning the eased visa facilitation services as well as the COVID-19 quarantine mandate for Maldivian travelers. 

Concluding the call, the President and the Ambassador reiterated their commitment to further strengthening the long-standing bilateral relationship between the two countries.

High Commissioner of Malta to Maldives Reuben Gauci

The newly appointed High Commissioner of Malta to Maldives, Reuben Gauci, presented his letter of credentials to President Solih during a ceremony held at the President’s Office this afternoon.

A meeting between the two was held following the credentials ceremony at which President Solih welcomed High Commissioner Gauci to the Maldives, and congratulated him on this appointment and the commencement of his tenure.

During the meeting, the High Commissioner highlighted similarities between the Maldives and Malta, ranging from geographical features to multilateralism ideologies.

Both the President and the High Commissioner also expressed their wish to further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries. Mutually beneficial areas of interest for cooperation such as human resource development, exploring higher educational prospects, tourism sector collaboration, pandemic management, and climate change ambitions were talked about in addition to exploring commercial and financial corporations.

They also highlighted the strong Maldives – EU partnership and stressed further cooperating on issues of fish tariff, visa facilitation and Counter-Terrorism.

Concluding the call, both the President and High Commissioner reiterated mutual commitment to improving ties between the two countries a discussed.

Maldives and Malta established diplomatic ties on March 5, 1985.