President: Ties will be forged with any country that respects our independence

Maldivian foreign policy is made up in such a way that relations will be strengthened with any country that respects the country’s independence, said President Abdulla Yameen.

Focusing towards the topic of Maldivian foreign policy in his speech at the official Independence Day function held at Dharubaaruge, President Yameen said that Maldives did not discriminate in proactively forging and strengthening friendly and mutually-beneficial ties with any country that respects the independence and sovereignty of Maldives.

He said that respect for the country’s independence and sovereignty was also the basis of membership in international bodies and multilateral organizations.

“The very pillar of international relations is the continued right of every sovereign state to determine their domestic affairs in full independence and without outside interference or intervention,” said President Yameen.

He also noted that it was part of Maldivian foreign policy not to get ensnared in global, regional of bilateral military, political or geopolitical disputes and rivalries of other countries.

He said that it was a country’s own affair to appropriate future course of socioeconomic and political development of the country to maximize benefits for its people.

President Yameen said that he was disappointed some countries and prominent bodies had interfered in the domestic affairs of Maldives and questioned the country’s judicial independence and integrity and condemned the Maldivian government for not supporting norms and ideologies that are foreign to the country’s culture, faith and tradition.

“Could you tell me one country on Earth that would welcome others, and not their own people, determining the legality of its own government? Could you tell me who will rejoice at foreign powers taking the liberty to disregard the laws of the land and adopting instead their own norms in passing judgment on domestic criminal matters?” he asked.

President Yameen said that he did not consider any country or international body that challenged the legality of a legitimate government to have any respect for the independence and sovereignty of Maldives.