Maldives will once again be a member of the Commonwealth by June 2020, assures Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid.
He said this during a questioning session at parliament on Wednesday morning, where he emphasized that the work to rejoin the 53-member organization is “ongoing at a fast pace.”
As such, the minister said that they expect this to be finalized before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda; to be held in June next year.
He added that rejoining the Commonwealth will once again bring various opportunities to the Maldivian people, including scholarship opportunities.
Maldives left the Commonwealth during former President Abdulla Yameen’s administration in October 2016, amid mounting pressure from the group over corruption and deteriorating human rights.
The move came after a warning by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, to suspend the Maldives “if the political crisis triggered by the jailing of opposition leaders is not resolved.”
Yameen’s government had accused the Commonwealth of interfering in domestic affairs and “unfair and unjust” treatment.
Incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s cabinet passed to rejoin the organization, shortly after assuming office in November 2018.
While the request for readmission was sent in early December, the documents required for the country to rejoin the organization were submitted to Secretary Patricia Scotland in June.
The SG had said that they “are hopeful that the process [for Maldives to rejoin Commonwealth] will proceed as smoothly and speedily as possible.”
Tariq Mahmood Ahmad, Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs at the British Foreign Office, had also recently expressed hope for Maldives to re-join the Commonwealth before the Kigali Summit.
In addition, the foreign minister revealed that work is being done to resolve the visa issue faced by Maldivians in Sri Lanka, adding that the neighboring country is currently at an emergency state following April’s terror attack.
