Good afternoon.
Good afternoon the President of Hilton, the General Manager, the entrepreneur who had been instrumental in developing this resort.
Good afternoon all the bankers who have been working so hard in trying to get this property up and running.
Hilton and other international chains are very valuable developing partners. This government takes entrepreneurs to be development partners, and not a group of people, that we feel, should be shut away.
As much as we can, we are trying to develop our tourism, and also in a style, in a manner where we feel that this industry should be sustainable.
Now the tourism industry is, very often, taken to be one of the best and most lucrative, I must say, industry in this region. It is mostly because, in many senses, government has been able to keep away from owning any part of this industry. We want to continue and we want to make it such that government has no equity, no stakes in these properties other than trying to facilitate them to do their business. We do not believe that it is government’s business to be in business. We are here to govern and we will try to set out a framework where corporate governance can be best executed.
We are also, I’m sure most of you would be very aware that Maldives tourism has been very resilient to international shocks. We’ve gone through a tsunami; we’ve gone through two Gulf Wars; we’ve gone through many dips and downs in international economy; we’ve experienced many recessions, but we are very often able to bounce back, back to capacity again, very effectively and very quickly.
I am sure the secrets behind our ability and this industry specifically, its ability to bounce back is because of this government’s laissez-faire economic policy where we don’t want to own ownership of these properties.
True, it’s been a very hectic day for me, but I’m delighted again to be here.
International tourism chains are, as I keep checking, our development partners and Hilton here take a special position in that they were the best people to come to the Maldives and start their chain. Hilton, of course, has been around, as we all know, for the past 90 years, 90 odd years. They’ve been in the Maldives for the last 11 to 12 years. During the course of this time, they created an environment where other similar chains have found it appropriate to come and invest in the Maldives.
We, of course, now have a number of chains and all these in total, together, make this industry more responsible, more attractive and more productive.
I will like to assure everyone, all the investors and tour operators, entrepreneurs that this government will not interfere in their business - that we will keep away from it as much as it is reasonably necessary. We will only tax them as much as it is completely necessary for the country. We are a centre-right government, and therefore, in philosophy, it is very easy for us to keep on assisting big industry, and make sure they come out on top, not only in this region, but through out the world.
We have been fortunate to be blessed with an environment that is very suitable for this business, and we intend to keep that blessing as it is. We want to take care of our environment; we have to look after our reefs, our beaches, our sea, our trees, our birds and butterflies. We have to look after our sounds, our culture; we have to look after our selves in total.
Tourism is an industry, hospitality is an industry, in my mind, that calls for such micro and minute classical interventions only necessary to look after the wider infrastructure that is so required to keep the machinery moving.
The government is working with an international company, Indian GMR, to build an international airport in Hanimaadhoo. We hope to start work on it during the course of this year. We believe that that would make this property more accessible, and it would be a little bit easier to get here than it is now. I do not claim that it is any difficult now. I’ve been just told that coming here is part of the holiday. Of course, it is very truly serene, a very beautiful sight itself. It is part of the journey; it is part of the holiday, as I have been told.
I will again and again assure you that we will, as a government will not, if I may use a very direct word, greedy, in trying to milk the industry of what it doesn’t have. We will continue to strengthen the industry; we will continue to assist it as much as we can.
In my mind, our work is to build a framework - a legal framework, a corporate framework so that they maybe able to venture, they maybe able to grow in their business, and we may all be able to share in it.
I again thank our dear entrepreneur, Shiyam who has been instrumental in many of these adventures. He’s very young, very articulate, and also very politically aware and acute.
I thank him and congratulate him for all the good work that he has done and all the good work that he continues to do. Again I thank the Hilton chain, I thank its management. I thank the Maldives tourism industry, by which I mean, the entrepreneurs who are running it.
I, of course, thank above all, all the very hard working staff who make this industry a success.
And thank you very much.
I would say a few words in Dhivehi.