President: I am a dreamer, and I make my dreams a reality

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has declared himself a dreamer, but also someone who works on making his dreams a reality.

President Yameen made the comment during his speech at the function held at G. A. Gemanafushi last Tuesday night to celebrate Fishermen’s Day.

In his speech, President Yameen said that Maldivian fish products were facing challenges in the international market due to smear campaigns by certain Maldivians.

President Yameen alleged that misplaced criticism in internal affairs of the country and spread of false information meant profits from exports fell below the expected level, irrelevant of the quality of Maldivian fish products.

“I am a dreamer. And I like to work on making my dreams a reality. I don’t like to hang my head down in despair. Our people don’t want messages of despair – that this is just our lot. No! We will be the ones to change our lot,” said President Yameen.

He also commented that Maldives, being an Islamic country, was being “punished” when exporting its fish products to the international market.

“We are being taxed because we don’t allow for any other religious faith than Islam in Maldives. We are being given punished when exporting our fish products because we refuse to discard certain Islamic principles. This is the reality of international trade,” said President Yameen.

He also commented that Maldives was just one of many countries involved in export of fish products, contributing just a small percentage of world fish exports. He said Maldives did not have any sway in controlling global fish prices.

President Yameen said that Maldives therefore needed to focus more on export of processed fish products than export of raw fish.

He said that government had modified its expenditure based on that strategy. And that the government wanted to build multiple small canneries spread across the country than build large canneries.

President Yameen said the government planned to start construction of “two or four” canneries with financial assistance from the Saudi Fund in 2017.