The relationship between United States and the Maldives, has “never been better”, says United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu.
Assistant Secretary Lu arrived in the Maldives on a short visit earlier this week, during which he sat down with RaajjeTV for an exclusive interview.
When questioned what on his perspective on the ties between Maldives and the U.S. currently, Assistant Secretary Lu revealed that the relationship has “never been better” and that this is a wonderful time to be working on so many different things, together.
An ecstatic Assistant Secretary highlighted that Maldives and the U.S. are working on so many different things including climate change, Covid-19 response, military cooperation as well as counterterrorism cooperation.
Shedding light on an announcement made by the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Maldives in 2020 regarding the opening of a U.S. embassy in the Maldives, Assistant Secretary Lu detailed that his visit goes hand in hand with this and saw discussions regarding the opening of the embassy, “very soon”.
Speaking in regards to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and the assistance extended by the U.S. government towards Maldives Covid-19 response efforts, Assistant Secretary Lu revealed that the U.S, much like the Maldives, is currently immersed in challenges due to the pandemic.
With this being said, he stressed on the importance of working together, as partners should.
“We are your partners. We partners should be helping other partners. We're delighted to be providing vaccine to the Maldives, but also for the whole world. We have provided vaccine in a way through the United Nations COVAX mechanism that is not loans. We're not asking for money for our vaccine. We're providing as a gift. We're also not providing it with any political strings attached. We just want to make sure we help to save as many lives as possible. So far, the United States has donated 128,000 doses of vaccine to the Maldives, through the UN, through COVAX.”Donald Lu, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs.
Further, Assistant Secretary Lu went on to praise the Maldivian government for the “amazing” job in administering the vaccination to children and kids under 18 years of age.
He expressed hope that the U.S. government will be able to provide even more doses, under a global commitment for providing 1.1 billion doses of vaccine in the coming year.
Assitant Secretary Lu also shed light on American President Joe Biden’s pledge to provide USD three billion in assistance to climate vulnerable countries including the Maldives, by 2024. Some of the programmes already in effect until then include the provision of USD 10 million through USAID, to fund two important projects to manage ocean resources and to help reduce the level of pollution in the Maldivian waters.
