Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has been holding a number of meetings on the sidelines of the Berlin Climate and Security Conference.
The minister traveled to Germany on Monday, after attending the Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) Summit in Saudi Arabia.
Shahid gave a keynote address at the one-day conference, and participated at the roundtable discussion on "Climate Change and Displacement.”
He emphasized that Maldives “will continue to debate whether human displacement or human relocation is the more appropriate term for us to use.”
“We will continue to fight over, who has a bigger responsibility to do more, to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change,” said the foreign minister.
The Berlin Climate and Security Conference brings together governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, research and academia at the highest level to discuss the growing risks of climate change on peace and security. The focus of the discussion will be on possible solutions needed for forward-looking and preventative foreign and security policy.
The minister will also be attending the fourth German-Asian Business Dialogue scheduled to take place on Wednesday, and hold meetings with senior officials from the German Government.
Busy on the sidelines
Shahid met with his Belgium counterpart Didier Renders on Tuesday, where he reiterated the commitment of Maldives to work closely with the European nation.
In a tweet sent out after the meeting, the minister said that they had discussed issues “to further expand bilateral and multilateral cooperation on issues of mutual interest to both countries.”
The Maldivian team also met with Head of the Federal Chancellery and Federal Minister for Special Tasks, Helge Braun on Tuesday, and discussed ways “to further strengthen relations.”
“We exchanged views on further avenues of cooperation between Maldives and Germany,” revealed the minister via twitter.
In addition, Shahid met with Malta’s foreign minister, Carmelo Abela, on Tuesday afternoon.
Noting that Maldives and Malta have a lot in common “as small island nations,” he said that they had “discussed Maldives membership of the Commonwealth.”
Maldives’ then government opted to leave the Commonwealth in 2016, and the current administration is working to rejoin the organization.
Embassy launches new site
During his visit, the foreign minister also launched the official website of Maldives’ embassy in Germany.
