UNGA chief lauds Indian assistance to Maldives during COVID-19 pandemic

New Delhi [India], August 29 : President of the United Nations General Assembly Abdulla Shahid on Monday lauded Indian assistance to the Maldives during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the "Travel Bubble" which saved the island's economy.
He also highlighted India's role in giving Covid vaccines to least developed and smaller countries.
In an exclusive interview with ANI, Shahid said, "India was always the world's pharmacist and has reached out to many countries. I have found that India has reached not only the neighbouring countries but also as far as Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. India has really shown its human face of compassion."
Underscoring India's help in pulling out the tourism industry of Maldives from a crisis, he said, "Our tourism industry was shutdown, no one travelled, but at the height of the pandemic, we were able to reach an understanding with India on 'Travel Bubble', providing for Indian tourists to visit the Maldives. For example, in 2020 at the height of the pandemic, we were able to receive almost half-a-million tourists and that kept our tourism industry moving. Since then our economy is recovering, the pace of recovery is good and our economy is stable."
Many countries around the world, especially small island developing countries like the Maldives during the COVID-19 pandemic went from middle-income country to no-income country overnight when the rest of the world was shutdown.
Talking about the special relationship between India and Maldives, the UNGA chief said, "Maldives-India relationship is the highest we have seen in our bilateral history. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the Maldives for the swearing-in ceremony of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Later the President also visited Delhi on December 18, the same year. Since then the President and PM Modi have met many, many times," he said to ANI.
"The number of projects that have been going on, agreements that have been signed, number of agreements that have been signed and people-to-people exchanges in the last few years have been outstanding and that is how I would describe the Maldives-India relationship," added Shahid.
The UNGA chief also spoke on the Russia-Ukraine war, the interconnectedness of the world and how it affects the globe.
"However, we live in an interconnected world. The war in Europe (Russia-Ukraine war) has badly affected the Maldives, as well as many other countries. The food crisis, the fuel crisis, everything, affects everyone. It affects the vulnerable, the smallest, much more and it lingers on more. But, I am happy to say that Maldivian economy is much more stable, our recovery phase is good," said Shahid.
Speaking on the Maldivian economy that could falter and go Sri Lanka's way, Foreign Affairs Minister of Maldives Abdulla Shahid said, "So far we have been able to pay all our debts even in this difficult period (COVID-19 pandemic) with the G-20 debt suspension initiative. Many countries have been able to go through it and I hope we will survive."
On the issue of the challenges he faced as UNGA chief, Shahid divulged that the world was reeling with death and despair when he stepped into the Presidency at a time of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"That is why I came up with Presidency of Hope, I based my Presidency on five rays of hope - recovering from COVID-19, rebuilding sustainably, responding to the needs of the planet, respecting the rights of all and reforming the United Nations," said Shahid.
Explaining his five rays of hope, he said, "Each one of them has itself been a challenge because recovering from COVID-19 pandemic, I called for universal vaccination, vaccine equity. We have been working on it. I convened a high-level meeting on vaccine equity and galvanized momentum for this purpose in February 2022.
Regarding rebuilding sustainably, Shahid said that even before the pandemic, the world was off track on achieving this.
"For many of the small countries, least developed countries and land-locked countries, the meagre resources they had to be diverted to responding to the pandemic. So, the achievements of SDGs were a huge challenge. We need to reorient ourselves, recalibrate and restart to achieve these targets in a more sustainable manner," said UNGA chief to ANI.
Responding to the needs of the planet, he said, "Everywhere in the world we are seeing how our planet, Mother Earth is being affected by the unsustainable waste that we have been dealing with our planet. We have to make sure that we are able to respond in an effective manner."
He also shared his experience with the "Moment for Nature" initiative to check climate change.
"During my presidency, we saw a large number of high-level meetings that were held at the Summit level. I convened Moment for Nature, requesting world leaders to come and take a moment for nature - to commit themselves to the 1.5-degree target and move forward, so that we can respond in a way humanity should. On respecting the rights of all, of course, human rights have to be the centre of everything we do, that was my priority," he added.