President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has sent a message of felicitations commemorating this year's Commonwealth Day.

The President’s message reads as follows:

“Today on Commonwealth Day, we celebrate our shared values and strong bonds, uniting people over 54 countries and across 6 continents.

This year’s theme, ‘Delivering a Common Future: Connecting, Innovating, Transforming’, reflects the strong ties that bind our commonwealth family of 2.4 billion people together. These ties have been strongly evident throughout the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, in our support and goodwill towards one another in these extraordinary and difficult circumstances.

It has now been one year since the Maldives re-joined the Commonwealth, and we are proud of all that we have accomplished together within this short time period. The Commonwealth has always been a champion of its member states, from the most populous to small island states. We in turn rely on the Commonwealth to help us achieve our goals such as adapting to the climate emergency, by building stronger and more resilient communities. We are exceptionally grateful for the role the Commonwealth plays in advocating for equitable access to Covid-19 vaccines.

I look forward to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda, where I hope to advance our common interests and contribute to solving our common challenges.”

The Maldives rejoined the Commonwealth on 1st February 2020. President Solih stated that re-joining the organisation is symbolic of this Administration’s commitment to engage with the international community and to deliver on our domestic pledges to citizens in good faith.