Welcome home
“It’s been four years in the wilderness, but now we are back,” beamed the High Commissioner for the Maldives Dr Farah Faizal, at a reception to celebrate the archipelago’s re-accession to the Commonwealth.
Also addressing a joyous gathering of diplomats from the Commonwealth corps was the Foreign Minister of the Maldives, the Hon Abdulla Shahid. “The sense of belonging we feel is almost indescribable… and there is no turning back,” he said, adding that he looked forward to his country actively contributing to the organisation as its 54th member.
Describing The Maldives’ abrupt departure in 2016 under the previous authoritarian government as “a silly separation”, the Commonwealth Secretary General Baroness Scotland said the Commonwealth family had missed the presence of the Maldives and looked forward to working with the country, particularly on the issue of Climate Change where the country has been a leading voice. “Welcome home at the start of this new and exciting chapter.”