President appeals for assistance in diversifying productive capacity frameworks

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has appealed to the international community to assist Small Island Developing States (SIDS) such as the Maldives in diversifying their economic and expanding their productive capacity frameworks.

He made the appeal while delivering the keynote address at the ‘Building Productive Capacities in Small Island Developing States (SIDS)’; event on the sidelines of the 79^th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), held at New York, United States.

This side event was co-hosted by the Maldives, in collaboration with St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).

In his remarks, President Muizzu acknowledged the Maldives' progress from a low-income to an upper-middle-income country, primarily due to the development of its tourism sector.

He underscored the challenges to overcoming the middle-income trap and in this trajectory, called upon the international community to assist SIDS in diversifying their economies and expanding their productive capacity frameworks to address the issue.

The President put forth key strategies to achieve the Ten-Year Program of Action outlined in the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS (ABAs). They are:

• Technological Advancement: The President reaffirmed the Maldives’ commitment to facilitating access to global payment gateways, ensuring that the country is fully integrated into the global market.
• Resilient Infrastructure: The President revealed the Maldives' initiatives to upgrade infrastructure across key sectors, including transportation, energy, and digital connectivity, in order to access global supply chains and attract new investments.
• Evidence-Based Policy: This includes the Productive Capacities Index developed by UNCTAD. The President urged development partners to provide financial support for tools that assist in making informed policy decisions and drive economic change. He also invited UNCTAD and other relevant UN agencies to collaborate with the Maldives to identify country-specific policy interventions to boost productivity.

President Muizzu concluded his address by inviting panelists to recommend actionable steps for improving productive capacities and fostering innovation.

He emphasized the need to challenge the narrative that SIDS are inherently limited in their development prospects.

“While it is true that we, the SIDS, face unique structural challenges, we’ve seen examples of similarly situated countries that have successfully overcome these barriers through strategic investments in productive capacities, innovation, and human capital development,” he added.