The United Nations Resident Coordinator to Maldives, Katherine Haswell, has assured all possible assistance in the country’s Covid-19 recovery efforts.

Haswell gave the assurance during a meeting held with Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Wednesday, as well as other representatives of UN agencies in the Maldives.

In addition to the foreign minister and the UN resident coordinator, World Health Organization’s representative Dr. Arvind Mathur, United Nations Development Programme’s resident representative M. Munir Safieldin, UNFPA’s assistant representative Shadhiya Ibrahim, Food and Agricultural Organization’s representative to Maldives and Sri Lanka Xuebing Sun, International Labour Organization’s Director of Simrin Singh, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime project coordinator Thoiba Saeed, International Fund for Agricultural Development’s country programme officer Sherina Tabassum, United Nations Office for Project Services’ country manager Sudhir Muralidharan as well as senior officials of the resident coordinator’s office took part in the meeting.

All the officials briefed the foreign minister on the ongoing assistance to the Maldives, and shared details of additional support to be provided to the island nation.

The representatives of the UN agencies also praised the measures taken by the government, to curb the spread of the virus.

Also at the meeting, Shahid shared details of the measures to be implemented by the government in the fight against Covid-19, as well as the work being conducted by the National Taskforce.

Shahid concluded the meeting after highlighting the various assistance being provided by the UN agencies since the start of the crisis, and stressed that the country requires additional support to overcome the pandemic.

The foreign minister also highlighted the United Nations’ role in Maldives’ development since its independence in 1965, noting “from being one of the poorest in the world, UN assistance and support has propelled [the country] to greater heights”.