President Mohamed Nasheed has today met with Vice President of the Swiss Confederation, Mr Mortiz Leunberger. The meeting was held this afternoon at the Federal House, Bern.

Discussions at the meeting were focused on establishing deeper bilateral relations between the two countries. They also explored possible areas of cooperation.

President noted that there was a very well-established economic relationship between the two countries, especially in the tourism sector.

Speaking on climate change, President Nasheed said that the Maldives was keen to work with Switzerland to secure a successful outcome at COP16 in Mexico.

President also thanked Mr Leunberger for Switzerland’s decision to support a waste management PPP project in the Maldives and expressed hope that this would be he first of many areas of Swiss-Maldives development cooperation.

Mr Leunberger welcomed President Nasheed to Switzerland and expressed desire to further strengthen relations with the Maldives.