Vice President Faisal Naseem called on the international community to better use the available opportunities and resources to achieve a better future. He made the statement at the Future of Work forum held as part of the World Government Summit 2023 at the Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Addressing the forum, Vice President Naseem said that world leaders need to enhance and transform governance systems to match the future of work and the needs of the time. He discussed various issues currently facing the globe and outlined the need for swift action and concerted efforts to develop novel solutions that would ensure a better future. He noted that governments in today's highly globalised world are confronted with increasingly complex and cross-cutting issues, such as economic volatility, unfavourable demographic trends, and climate change. He stressed that good governance is one of the significant challenges that both developing and developed countries face.
Additionally, Vice President Naseem emphasised that the administration of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih considers democratic governance, institutional reform, and modernisation of the public sector as the key pillars of development and growth. He added that the development of human and social capital, attaining sustainable development, providing suitable social housing, modernising transportation infrastructure, and improving regional connections are all essential building blocks for realising this vision.
Furthermore, Vice President said that the pandemic compelled governments to reorient government models and introduce creative policies and technologies through accelerating government service innovation to overcome the challenges. He also highlighted that the COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the realisation of virtual societies' importance and the healthcare system's transformation. He noted that remote working had become more normalised to a greater extent with the increased adaptation of the remote work model. He also spoke about how, with the combination of nature, technology, and infrastructure, the Maldives is becoming a hub for digital nomads and remote workers.
Shedding light on President Solih's digitalisation policy, the Vice President announced that the Maldives would launch One-Gov services in March 2023, complementing the existing gov.mv platform, which facilitates more accessible digital communication between government agencies and the public. He said that the mission of this digital development agenda is to lay the foundations for expedited digital development and that at the heart of this plan is the introduction of digital identity, which would act as a building block of a digital society.
Moreover, Vice President Naseem also spoke about the administration's efforts to build a better "future of work" with a robust human resource development agenda, ensuring the minimum wage, establishing the SME Bank in support of small and medium-sized enterprises, and establishing a reliable and secure transportation system with the Raajje Transport Link (RTL) transportation system.
In conclusion, Vice President Naseem emphasised that for the Maldives, priority needs to be placed on innovative green technologies to enhance trade capacity. He also spoke about strengthening technological capabilities to address climate change by increasing renewable energy sources, reducing disaster risk, and promoting the blue economy.