Good evening Glenn de Souza, the Vice President, Ministers and everyone present here tonight;
Since we started government, I have been actually looking for Moosa Hassan. I got hold of him some while ago, in the very first few months. And since then I haven’t actually been able to locate him. Now we know what he has been up to. I understand that he has been conducting these negotiations and he has been very successful. Thank you very much Moosa Hassan and Best Western for coming to the Maldives.
It is a great pleasure for us. We are very much encouraging international investments in the Maldives. We are fortunate that Hilton Hotel and a number of other high, big brands are presently operating in the Maldives.
This country has been developing this trade for the last 40 or so years.
I must say, Mr Moosa Hassan is one of the initial pioneering people. They have developed the art of developing resorts into actually a fine art.
It would be such a good experience for all of us including the country, to have one of the biggest hotel chains in the world here and be engaged in their business. We support private sector enterprise, and we want to see private sector development and we believe that it is through private sector development that we as a nation can grow and develop.
In this regard, the government is very willing to give whatever concession that the government can give in assisting international developers who want to invest in the Maldives. I’m sure, people would have come to an understanding, that the key objectives of this government are consolidating democracy and becoming carbon neutral. Now, these two objectives might just seem very far apart, but in our mind they are much related. We have to be able to pass on these assets of the Maldives to our children and our children’s children. For us to be able to do that, we ourselves need to be an example in development. How we are using these very fragile natural resources to become a high market branded product. The industries here, locally, have been able to come up with ways and means of very soft engineering methods - sometimes very biological engineering methods as well.
You would also understand that we are facing a fair amount of erosion problems and other climate change challenges. Resorts have been very successful in developing mechanisms, developing ways and means of adaptation to the changing weather and the changing climate patterns. Most of these adaptation measures developed in the resorts all throughout the development phase and also in operation have been very soft engineering. I am certain that Best Western will also go along with these lines and would come out with a product that is very much entwined with the environment. This is a very important issue for us and I’m sure it is a very important issue for Best Western and every other tourist who come here.
The country has been fortunate in highlighting these issues and becoming a champion in the fight for a very peaceful and a dedicated environmentally conscious country. So we are therefore, so much pleased that you are coming in to the economy with a big brand and willing to conduct free development spirit which is very much entwined with the environment of the country.
We, recently, have been fairly successful in trying to attract international tourism activity in the Maldives. British Airways has agreed to start its operation starting from October. I also understand that the Swiss Air is looking into their operations in October. There are also a number of other big resort chains who have decided to invest in the Maldives.
We do very much see that these are the very best time for investments as we are going through this recession. Recessions have always been a very good period for investments. We would like to point out that the industry has been very resilient to international shocks. Maldives tourism industry has gone through many Black Fridays, it has gone through two Gulf wars, it has gone through a tsunami and it has always been able to bounce back to its former might in a matter of very few months. We are again now fortunate to see that the trend of decline due to recession that we anticipated is not realised. We were braced at 15% downturn. We now see that this will probably not be as bad as we initially thought it would be.
We are again very thankful for Best Western and all other international investors, chains working here in the Maldives. I do not want to be an obstacle between your dinner. We have very good fish and chicken. I have just had a look at the menu. I will not take much of your time but would like to stress on a few issues I feel is important.
We are going through a period of consolidating democracy in the country. We are implementing a new Constitution that grants a whole host of new rights to both the entrepreneur and the employee. We are certain -- we are coming up with models that would assist the employees and the entrepreneur by coming up with legislations that required for us to have to explore -- have to consolidate democracy. In this regard I have always requested and I have been asking the labour in this country-- as it is the demands on entrepreneurs should also be eased. And I am certain that our labour is very willing to accommodate themselves, and brace against very hard times.
The construction period of resort is again another set of workers that is required but very often in resort building we find that actually the employees who finally are in hospitality will be initially working in building not the product. We are also pleased, we are glad, that the chain is willing to train people and go into more training programmes. We also do recognise the exposure, the benefits, that our labour would get through exposure to other working areas through your hotel chains.
I also did mention that the country is very open for business. We do understand that to have good business you do need rule of law and you do need to consolidate democracy. So in a sense, you have stood being exactly at the right moment and I am glad to accept you and work with you as our development partner. We take the private sector as development partners. We are a government with a centre-right vision.
Again not to put so much time between you and your dinner, I like to thank everyone who has come here and please enjoy yourselves. Thank you very much.
