Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid departed to Niger on Monday, to represent Maldives in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC)’s 47th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers.

While the meeting is to be held in Niamey from 27-28 November, its theme this year is “United against Terrorism for Peace and Development”.

The minister will deliver a statement at the meeting, and highlight the government’s Covid-19 response measures as well as the pandemic’s impacts on the island nation.

Shahid will also speak on Maldives’ views on issues affecting the Muslim community, and call for unity.

Further, the foreign minister is expected to conduct several bilateral meetings with his counterparts at OIC, on the sidelines of the Council.

Minister Shahid said that he looks forward to the Council of Foreign Ministers and “having productive discussions on important issues for [the] Ummah”.

The minister added that “Islamic unity is important now, more than ever, as we face the unprecedented challenge of Covid-19 and its side effects”.

This is the foreign minister’s first trip abroad since the Covid-19 pandemic. Maldives Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and OIC, Mohamed Khlaeel, and the Assistant Director at the Foreign Ministry, Ahmed Salman Zaki are accompanying the minister.

The 47th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation was initially scheduled for April, but postponed amid the global spread of the coronavirus.

Since its inception in 1969, OIC has been known to be the aspiration to speak as the collective voice of the Islamic community.

The Maldives became a Member State of the OIC in 1976.