The Third Senior Officials Meeting between the Maldives and the European Union (EU) was held on 25 October 2022 in Malé, Maldives.
The meeting re-affirmed the positive and growing momentum in the relations between the two sides over the past years. The Maldives and European Union re-confirmed their strong mutual interest in further strengthening their bilateral relations, rooted in shared values and commitments, the principles of the UN Charter and international law, and to further deepening the engagement, including through the implementation of the EU Strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific.
As close partners in the multilateral domain, both Maldives and EU reiterated their intention to expand the existing partnership and work closely in the UN and all relevant multilateral fora, including to address global challenges such as peace and security, climate change and biodiversity, water and plastic pollution.
Moreover, Maldives welcomed EU’s Multi-Annual Indicative Programme (MIP) for the Maldives 2021-2027, the first dedicated envelope to the Maldives since 2013. With EUR 12 million (MVR 178.6 million) allocated for the period 2021-2024 under the MIP, both the Maldives and EU agreed to deepen cooperation in green transition, climate change mitigation and adaptation, biodiversity protection and circular economy, and continued support for good governance, rule of law and security.
Through the MIP, the Maldives would receive support from the EU in key areas of the Strategic Action Plan 2019-2023 and the National Resilience and Recovery Plan. The Maldives especially welcomed EU’s new actions for judiciary reforms and biodiversity protection.
Furthermore, Government of the Maldives reiterated its request to the EU to consider granting duty free access for sustainably sourced tuna products from the Maldives. Recalling the importance of enhancing people-to-people ties between the two sides, the Maldives also reiterated its request for visa free travel for Maldivian nationals to travel to EU Member states.
The Third Senior Officials Meeting between the Maldives and EU was held in a hybrid format with the discussions co-chaired by Ahmed Khaleel, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Paola Pampaloni, Deputy Managing Director for Asia and Pacific at the European External Action Service.
