Good afternoon, I suppose there’s no need for me to go on and say much. I’ve just pointed out some of the issues that we are going ahead with in the Maldives. I would be open to your questions and pick up from thereon. Mr. Zaki would point out different people who would want to raise an issue or answer a question and we can go from thereon.
Kumar from India:
Congratulations for the wonderful and inspiring speech delivered at the opening ceremony. It is one of the best speeches. There were some newspaper reports that at Copenhagen you were highly critical of the Indians and Indian delegations with severe criticism from Maldives with regard to the emission of greenhouse gases. We would like to here from you.
President Nasheed:
I think that might not exactly be the case. I have not been critical of India, we all understand Indian sentiments, and we understand that India needs to develop, and we understand that there should be commonality but differential commonality. And in that regard we’ve always stood together, India has some very specific issues that it needs to deal with. As both of us know India has more than 150 million people without electricity and they all need electricity. Now how do we provide that electricity? We in the Maldives have been arguing that the best would be to provide that electricity through renewable energy and we are also encouraged by the number of Indian investments in renewable energy. We wish you all the best and I’m sure India will be very mindful in its development strategy and we would all wish to see a stronger and more vibrant Indian economy. I would also like to point out during the very close negotiations in Copenhagen, I have tried my best with the European Countries to help India and to be sensitive of Indian interests and Indian requirements.
I mentioned this to the British Prime Minister and the French President as well. And I’m pleased that by and large that arrangement was maintained in Copenhagen.
IRNS News Agency:
What is the renewable energy capacity of the Maldives? What would be the privatization of the public sector, how many units have you privatized and what, and what percentage are you willing to privatize?
President Nasheed:
Well, we want to make all our electricity to be renewable. We declared that we want to become carbon neutral within 10 years. For us to do that, we have to invest something like a hundred million dollars a year, to become carbon neutral. Now we have General Electrics and Falcon Engineering on a project to produce 75 Megawatts with wind power. We also have a contract with Suzlon to produce another 25 Megawatts. We are also now speaking to Windwin in India to see how we maybe able to develop.
We also feel that there is much un-cut energy and resources in the Maldives especially in ocean currents and if we can develop that and put more research into it, we would have a win-win situation with India. In privatization we have been able to privatize our water company and we have also been able to privatize other tele-communications and we have been able to establish a public-private partnership with Sri Educare from Delhi to run one of the government schools. We are now just today, going to finalize an agreement, a public-private partnership agreement with Apollo Hospitals to run the Central Hospital in the Maldives. And there are a number of other areas that we can expand too. And we are working with Indian industries and Industries elsewhere on what can be done on both sides. Also I would like to point out that the bidding process for the main airport is online and we have two very good Indian companies bidding for it. We have an agreement with GMR to develop an international airport in the North.
Vigenish:
Sir, the concern in the next two years, do you think that we could leap through the political backlash in the long run?
President Nasheed:
We are already facing that political backlash. Now in my mind these things are very difficult, but in my mind it has to be done. When they have to be done, we have to do it. We will try our best to explain to the people that why this is necessary and I believe that people in the Maldives will understand and I believe that people of all countries will understand that government in the countries cannot go on and on spending all their income on just a handful of people. In the Maldives theirs over 30,000 civil servants and we are spending more than 60% of the budget on civil servants. So yes it’s challenging, its difficult, but we are going to do it.
Question:
How serious is the issue of rising sea-level to the very existence of the Maldives?
President Nasheed:
For us climate change is not an issue for the future. It is an existing issue right now. Even now we have more than 14 islands where the islanders have to move their homes from one island to the other. In most of the islands the water table has been contaminated, we therefore have serious issues with food security.
I’m also told that climate change has brought changes to the ocean temperature and in the last 10 years our fish catch has dwindled every year and this is an issue that we have to face now. It’s not an issue in the future. The science I believe has been sorted. I believe in the science. I think if we believe in part of the science and we are all logical in this and understand that the science is sorted, IPCC is not lying it has a very good set of research and it is consisting of scientists throughout the world. It is headed by a very respectable Indian scientist and I think we should all listen to them. According to them if global temperatures can increase by 4 degrees Celsius in the next 80 years, and if that happens we understand that sea levels can rise between 80cm to 1 metre.
Maldives is just 1.5 to 2 metres above sea level, so you can see that will be a great challenge to us.
Question:
IPCC, in a recent issue said that the issue of sea level rise may not happen.
President Nasheed:
My grandfather refused to believe that man landed on the moon. But finally before passing away, he came around.
Question:
How do you propose to sell Maldives as an investment destination with the huge threat of rising seal levels?
President Nasheed:
We are calling that adaptation. Sea levels are rising and the climate is changing. What we are saying is that we cannot mitigate everything. That we need development. India needs to develop, China needs to develop South Africa and Brazil and all the developing countries need to develop. So if the developing countries and the developed countries are mindful of the adaptation measures, this is where the embankments, revetments and water breakers, then we can all survive. I believe investments can be very imaginative and we are talking of 80 years down the line and if we are not mindful now and so cautious as not to mention investment realities simply because of cash flows, God help us all.
Question:
Well, which are the sectors you are looking into for investments, and inviting endorsements from which countries or which sectors?
President Nasheed:
Mainly in infrastructure, but also in healthcare and education. Infrastructure meaning sewerage systems, adaptation measures, embankments and water breakers. Also transport, ports, harbours, airports, tourism of course and real estate.
Question:
Sir, how do you propose to meet the entire energy requirement of the Maldives? Is it possible to meet it through using wind power?
President Nasheed:
Well, this is the mindset that we have to move out from. It may very well be possible. It is actually technically possible. As I pointed out we did not leave the Stone Age because we ran out of stones, but of course because we found out that there is better technology. Now why, when we have 150 million Indians that require electricity, why do we have to go with yesterday’s technology when tomorrow’s future renewable energy is available? The world has invested more in research and development of renewable energy during the last 7 years than anywhere or than any other product or any other concern in the past. So this is going to bring a transformation, we will soon I believe see a shift in technology and that is going to lead to another revolution. I’m glad a lot of Indian companies have realised this. Now we have Suizlon who is in the forefront who is producing a fair amount of technology and the plants required for renewable energy. I also visited Windwin the other day and another company here and I’m also again meeting a number of people with very good ideas on how we maybe able to harness nature in a more amicable way to nature and to ourselves.
Question:
We are very inspired with the issue, do Maldivians think India should improve upon our relations with the Maldivians?
President Nasheed:
I would like to stress that we have very good relations with India. One of the beautiful things about India is that however big India is, India knows how to deal with neighbours, how to understand neighbours, and they know how to understand neighbours and how to have a proper conversation with neighbours. In the case of Pakistan, of course we don’t want to call it bi-lateral issues here, what I have found in the short period of my administration is that there is no other superpower, other than India whom we can have a very amicable and good relation with. And we are enjoying it and I’m sure that whatever difficulty, the differences that we have are not very substantial.
Now India wants to develop and we are arguing that development should be fuelled by renewable energy. That’s not contradicting any Indian aspiration. In my mind we are trying to fuel Indian development and aspirations.
Last Question:
Are you giving any incentives and tax breaks for the development of renewable energy?
President Nasheed:
Thank you very much