Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the Maldives will co-host the Fifth Maldives-EU Policy Dialogue on November 23, 2020.
The foreign ministry stated this year’s dialogue will be held virtually and will focus on the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on the efforts of the Maldivian government to contain and achieve a resilient recovery from the pandemic and to build back better. The ministry said the thematic areas of discussion at the dialogue will include cooperation in the fisheries sector, environment and climate change, development cooperation, trade and investment, finance, democracy, governance, human rights, security cooperation and Schengen Visa facilitation.
The Maldives Delegation at the dialogue will be led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid. The delegation will consist of cabinet ministers and senior government officials from all the relevant government agencies. Meanwhile, the EU delegation will be led by the Ambassador of the EU to the Maldives Denis Chaibi.
Maldives-European Union (EU) Policy Dialogue is held annually. The purpose of the dialogue is to facilitate open and constructive engagement between the Maldives and the EU to further strengthen the existing ties of friendship and cooperation between the Maldives and the members of the European Union.
This year the Maldives and EU have also initiated an annual Senior Officials level meeting. The first SOM was held in Male’ in February 2020.