President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has appealed to Maldivian youth to be self-dependant upstanding citizens at a ceremony at Dharubaaruge celebrating World Population Day.
During his remarks at the ceremony, the President extended his greetings to all Maldivian citizens on the occasion. He shared his views on the allegory of celebrating World Population Day and outlined the most important reasons as celebrating and fostering human ingenuity and the cumulative growth of societies. The President stressed the importance of working together to traverse the hurdles obstructing the path to progress, utilizing all resources at maximum efficiency and creating social awareness on important concerns and opportunities. He also discussed and extolled several incredible milestones achieved by the Maldivian society, such as significantly reducing the risk of maternal, antenatal and neonatal death, while simultaneously increasing life-expectancy by 10 years.
The President also said that despite all the accomplishments realised and challenges overcome, there are still crucial societal concerns that need to be addressed and more milestones to be achieved. The support system for single mothers, children and other vulnerable persons in society, as well as social paradigms promoting equality for both genders, were pointed out as crucial issues requiring solutions.
The President also remarked on the migrant worker population in the country, noting that while they aid our country's progress with their service, they also lead a large portion of our capital towards foreign lands. The President encouraged creating a local workforce to replace migrant workers to help retain this capital within our country by announcing a new Migration Policy to monitor migrant workers and Maldivians migrating from one part of the country to another, and that his administration is corroborating with banking institutions and other notable organisations to help increase the local workforce.
In his speech, the President also highlighted the ageing population problem, stating that there is an expected increase of 14% by the year 2054, and the corresponding urgency to improve the options available the working population, as well as providence funding and smarter retirement and savings. He noted that the fact that the working population is expected to remain visibly unchanged for the next 35 years is a blessing that can only be utilised if the working population take the opportunity to be self-dependent and upstanding. He expressed his tribulation at members of the society who choose to be taken care of by their family over self-sufficiency and stated that it is a great loss for society and the economy of the Maldives, imploring all youth to choose to be an upstanding, working member of society.
During the ceremony, the President launched a report detailing the Maldives' accomplishments and population variations. In addition to the President, Vice President Faisal Naseem and several high ranking government officials participated in the ceremony.
