President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, on Friday night, has departed on an official visit to Antigua and Barbuda’s capital St. John’s, to attend the fourth International Conference on Small Island Developing States (SIDS).

The President is scheduled to deliver Maldives’ national statement at the Plenary of the Summit on Monday, May 27th.

He is also scheduled to meet with a number of foreign dignitaries, and deliver remarks at some of the events held at the sidelines of the Summit.

Notably, President Muizzu is also  one of the Vice Presidents of the Conference as well as Co-chair of one of the five interactive dialogues, organized by the UN at the conference.

The Conference on SIDS, held once a decade, this time will focus on the adoption of the new Programme of Action, the Antigua and Barbuda Agenda for SIDS. This year’s conference is held under the overarching theme of "Charting the course toward resilient prosperity."

At a press briefing on Thursday, the President’s Office’s spokesperson Heen Waleed said President Muizzu will be accompanied in the conference by a delegation to top officials.

This includes: Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer; Environment Minister Toriq Ibrahim; Housing Minister Dr. Ali Haidar; Climate Envoy Ali Shareef; HDC’s Managing Director Ibrahim Fazul Rasheed; and Ambassador-at-large Dr. Ali Naseer Mohamed.

Maldives will organize three events at the conference.

The first event will focus on the progress made by Maldives in its path to digitalization, and its use in the country’s development.

The second event will focus on the development of Hulhumale’, and the third is a regional side event. 

SIDS comprise of 37 UN member nations, and 20 associate members of regional commissions, positioned at the forefront of multiple global crises, notably climate change.