President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has joined the sports festival held ahead of the “Viavathi Raajje” conference.

President Solih arrived in Ukulhas island of Alif Alif atoll on Friday afternoon.

The festival, organized as an icebreaker for the attendees of the conference, was held on the main beach of Ukulhas Island.

Attendees of the conference include government ministers and other senior officials, technical experts, local government officials and media outlets.

Activities of the festival included beach volleyball, tug-of-war and penalty shootout.

At the first edition of the "Viavathi Raajje" conference on 15 December 2019, President Solih signed the eighth amendment to the Decentralization Act into law.

With this, more fiscal and legal autonomy for local councils was authorized.

The second edition of the meeting is being hosted by the president in Ukulhas, which marks this as the first time it is being held since the amendment was ratified.

The conference seeks to pave the opportunity to review the existing structures and find avenues for improvement.

Further, it also presents an opportunity for the incumbent administration to confer its policies to ensure good governance.

Four sessions will be featured in the two-day conference, with presentations and discussions on various topics revolving around fiscal and legal autonomy, formulating land-use plans, the role of WDCs, crime prevention, social welfare as well as climate resilience

The conference will also allow representatives of the council and WDCs to present their concerns to the president and hold discussions regarding solutions.