Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has concluded an official visit to Niger, to participate in the 47th Council of Foreign Ministers Meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

While the Council of Foreign Ministers was held from 27-28 November, Shahid departed on November 23 to Saudi Arabia where he met senior officials from the Saudi Arabian government prior to departing to Niamey to attend the meeting.

The foreign minister delivered a statement at the meeting, focusing on a number of issues faced by the Muslim Ummah, including the issue of Palestine, plight of the Rohingya people, the situation in Western Sahara, terrorism and the rise of Islamophobia.

He also called for greater unity and solidarity in confronting these challenges in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, and highlighted the importance of gender equality “to ensuring a peaceful society and inclusive Ummah”.

Shahid also called for a mechanism where the OIC and the wider international community “works together to counter the prevailing atmosphere of Islamophobia around the world, that has afflicted the lives of many Muslims”.

Minister Shahid also highlighted the impacts of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic during his statement, including its health, social and economic effects on Maldives.

Noting that the Maldivian government had to take “unprecedented and difficult measures” to curb the virus, the minister stressed that this resulted in a lot of adverse economic effects. He further emphasized the particular vulnerability of smaller states within the OIC to the pandemic, and called for a “greater concessional financing to aid with recovery and resilience”.

Minister Shahid also met with a number of his counterparts within the OIC on the sidelines of the event, including the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Pakistan, Mauritania, Senegal and Gambia. He also held meetings with the Heads of Delegations of the UAE, Indonesia, Uganda, Mozambique and Morocco.

During the visit, the foreign minister conducted high-level bilateral meetings with senior officials from the Government of Saudi Arabia, conducive to enhancing the strong bilateral relationship between the Maldives and Saudi Arabia.

At the meetings, Minister Shahid briefed the Saudi officials on the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Maldives and the subsequent challenges of the pandemic on the country’s economy. Ongoing development cooperation projects, and future prospects for collaboration and exchange between the Maldives and Saudi Arabia were also discussed during the meetings.

Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Permanent Representative of the Republic of Maldives to the OIC, Mohamed Kahleel and Assistant Director at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ahmed Salman Zaki, accompanied the minister on the trip. This was the foreign minister's first official visit abroad since the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Maldives became a member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in 1976.