Maldives National University (MNU) is hosting a workshop on green finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME).
Speaking as the chief guest at the opening ceremony, Minister of Higher Education Dr. Ibrahim Hassan highlighted the negative impact of insufficient waste management mechanisms, which damages the environment and marine life. He praised individuals working to reduce the accumulation of plastic materials in the Maldives and the world and highlighted the government’s work to phase out single-use plastic.
The workshop is being held by Prevention of Marine Litter in the Lakshadweep Sea (PROMISE), which is a four-year project supported by the European Union (EU) under the SWITCH Asia programme which seeks to reduce marine littering in tourism clusters along the Lakshadweep shorelines which includes Maldives, Sri Lanka, and India. The PROMISE project aims to reduce marine littering by preventing leakage of wastes from land-based sources into the Lakshadweep Sea in line with a Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) approach. To achieve the desired impact, the activities target tourism clusters located along the Lakshadweep shorelines in the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India.
The purpose of the green finance workshop is to assist MSMEs in implementing mechanisms to reduce marine littering. Stakeholders of MSMEs operating in the Maldives joined the workshop along with officials from the Bank of Maldives (BML), SME Development Finance Corporation (SDFC), and Maldives Finance and Leasing Company. The workshop was also joined by technical teams from V.A.M and Company Private Limited and State Electric Company Limited (STELCO) as well as officials from state-owned companies and relevant government agencies.