The United Nations Resident Coordinator to Maldives, Catherine Haswell presented her credentials to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Sunday.

The credentials were presented at a special ceremony held at the President’s Office in the morning, and at a meeting held afterwards Haswell extended greetings from UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Deputy Amina J. Mohammed.

Welcoming the UN official to the Maldives, the president congratulated Haswell on her appointment and expressed confidence that the Maldives – United Nations relations “would take more significant strides” under her tenure.

Solih also expressed his appreciation of the UN’s undertakings in the Maldives, as well as highlighted some areas on mutual concern.

As such, he stressed the organization’s role “in assisting the Maldives in the areas of combatting terrorism and violent extremism, and climate change mitigation and adaptation”.

At the meeting, the UN resident coordinator assured the UN’s continued support and cooperation towards fulfilling the administration’s Strategic Action Plan (SAP), which she described as “ambitious.”

She further praised the administration’s stand on various issues, including its stance on women empowerment and gender equality.

Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, Chief of Staff at the President’s Office Ali Zahir and its Foreign Relations Secretary Sabra Nooradeen attended the meeting.

Catherine Haswell, from Australia, was appointed to the post in December 2019, and has over 23 years of development and humanitarian experience in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. She previously held programme and management roles with UNICEF in Darfur, the occupied Palestinian territory and Timor Leste.

Haswell holds a master’s in international and public law from the University of Melbourne, Australia.

The former UN Resident Coordinator to Maldives, Shoko Noda’s term ended in 2019.

During her farewell call on President Solih, Noda expressed her pleasure to have worked in the Maldives where she said “the future is bright.”

She also highlighted that the country “is on a positive trajectory in terms of consolidating the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the 2008 Constitution.”