Your Excellency, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih,

Your Excellency, Vice-President, Faisal Naseem,

Their Excellencies, Members of the Cabinet, 

Distinguished Representatives of our Development Partners’ Community,

CEO of Local Government Authority, Fathimath Afshan Latheef,

Honourable Members of Atoll and Island Councils and WDCs from the South, Dignitaries and special invitees gracing this ceremony.

Assalaam Alaikum,

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I am grateful for your kind reception in this beautiful island of Gan. It is a privilege to be back in Laamu Atoll on this most auspicious occasion.

The United Nations Development Programme joined forces with the Government of Maldives for the first Decentralization Conference in 2019. Back then, as today, the energy of your collective and profound commitment towards making all functions of the state work across Maldives was palpable and a reminder to us all - we MUST succeed. 

UNDP has, year after year, ramped up its governance offer in support of our champion partners. Our most recent service offer to the Maldives, our Country Programme, is set to help you all to accelerate your results towards this Government’s Strategic Action Plan. And to do so, we strongly believe the decentralization agenda must be at the center of all our discussions. This is the pivot that would drive our progress on our work in justice sector reforms; our joint efforts to diversify the economy; our relentless commitment to reverse the effects of climate change; and our shared pursuit to perfect governance and a thriving livelihoods for the people of Maldives - with women and the the most marginalized at the crux. 

UNDP has set up a portfolio of options available to the Government, building on what we have learned and continue to discover with our unmatched global presence across 170 countries and thousands of local administrations. 

You have access through us to a global conversation on your local challenges: on how to deliver on social contracts; leapfrog to digital governance; better embrace natural resources; expand your fiscal reach; and positively revamp a meaningful participation and voice of women in all we do, and I could go on. 

I wholeheartedly accept the responsibility of opening access to Maldives to this wealth of experience. UNDP, in all probability, has the only mandate to galvanize this global knowledge in and out of the country, with no conditions posed. With the generous support of our member states, of which - you are one - we remain steadfast in bringing you state of the art solutions to challenges, that at times may seem overwhelming - some of which you are not even directly responsible for. 

Maldives is not a bilateral partner to the United Nations nor to UNDP. We are not in a transactional relationship. You are in our Executive Board, and quite frankly, at the front and center of what we do. You are the commissioner as well as the beneficiary of a multilateral compact all nations around the world came together - and on the principle of the UN Charter – committed, to help each other to live in a better planet, enhance progress, be in peace with each other and prosper for generations to come. Don’t we need that more than ever?

When I started this profession, at best we were working for local administrations to properly manage central resources and be accountable to their constituencies. Things have not changed in that sense. A lot of what we do is in support of the public machinery of finance. But with the opening for you, to new dimensions of fiscal space, you are now set to mature across Upper Middle Income Countries and be able to navigate at all levels of the state, as entrepreneur. A social and environmentally-friendly entrepreneur. You have the keys to make your atolls and islands a social enterprise able to generate revenues for the noble purpose of redistributing your profit back to nature and your people. UNDP is here to help. 

But, let us be honest.  There is no sufficient grant money, there is no deal on loans, there is simply not enough public finance that will ever match the challenge upon us in development. It is estimated that trillions of dollars are held back in the financial market. This is the time for foresight and investment and to build up expertise and capabilities on how to influence and align private capital to your social and environmental agenda. UNDP is here to help with a finance taxonomy and a buck of SDG-ready projects to blend your public finance to capital. 

It is not always easy in the natural and democratic cycle of your public representation to see the end of a development agenda that goes beyond mandate. But development is not a sprint, but a marathon and I have no doubt, having met many of you in the room today, that Maldivians can count on your spirit of sacrifice and commitment in a wide circle of leaders profoundly invested in social good. 

I come to you as UNDP Resident Representative, but I am not much changed from when I left the doorway out of home 20 years ago. I haven’t turned back. With sincere and heartfelt gratitude to you all, and to you Mr President – you can count on the United Nations Development Programme. We won’t turn back.

Shukriya.