Statement delivered by
HE Dr Ali Naseer Mohamed, Permanent Representative
at the General Debate of the Second Committee
8 October 2018
Thank you Mr Chair,
My Delegation wishes to congratulate you on your election as the Chair of the Second Committee.
The Maldives aligns itself with the statements by aosis, and Egypt on behalf of the Group of 77 and China.
I also wish to welcome the presentation at the beginning of the session from Mr Homi Kharas, the Interim Vice President and Director of the Global Economy and Development programme at the Brookings Institution. The issues highlighted in the presentation are extremely relevant for our discussion.
Mr Chair,
The work that this Committee is undertaking is vital for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda, which is the universal roadmap that guides us in addressing the global development challenges of our time. My Delegation also wishes to emphasise the importance of placing these deliberations in the context of ongoing efforts for unds Reform, in a manner that will create more synergy between the General Assembly, ecosoc, and the hlpf.
The Maldives also wishes to place the samoa Pathway at the centre of this Committee’s discussions. The High-Level Midterm Review of samoa Pathway is scheduled to take place during the General Assembly next year, and there is a need to accelerate our efforts in meeting the commitments we all made in Samoa in 2014.
Economic development must be nationally owned and nationally driven process. Every country must be able to set its own development vision, and every country must recognise its own abilities to make the necessary leap forward to make its future a prosperous one. At the same time, there is a need for the international system to support the developmental efforts of sids, such as the Maldives. The small islands developing States need support, in the form of capacity building, transfer of technology, and access to finance in order to achieve the goals set out in international development agendas. The Maldives is fortunate to have pursued economic development policies that were based on the belief that building our own national resilience is the best strategy to cope with our inherent vulnerabilities. The Maldives has always believed that forging closer partnerships with our own private sector, and with our external friends, and increasingly with non-traditional development partners has resulted in significant progress across our economic, social and environmental sectors, as illustrated by our Voluntary National Review last year. However, we still face significant challenges in attracting investments in particular areas that are crucial for comprehensively achieving the targets by 2030.
My Delegation believes that international public financing still remains a critical component in addressing the gaps and challenges, and it has already been demonstrated that this can be mobilized in a mutually beneficial manner. We seek to establish an enabling environment that does not place Middle-Income Countries such as the Maldives at a disadvantage. The Maldives also emphasises the need for the un system to evolve to cater to the needs of assisting Member States in the implementation of the instruments being considered by this Committee. This is particularly relevant for countries in special situations, such as sids, which require additional support. My Delegation urges Member States to allocate additional resources to the un Secretariat to enable it to better assist Small Island Developing States to achieve the relevant mandated outcomes.
The agenda items allocated to this Committee provides us with a unique opportunity to address international cooperation on a diverse range of issues from macroeconomic policy questions to developmental and environmental issues. I assure you that you can count on the full cooperation of the Maldives Delegation, especially in the negotiations for the Resolutions that will be considered in this Committee.
I thank you, Mr Chair.
