Prime Minister of Spain and President of the Conference,
His Excellency Mr Pedro Sánchez,
Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr António Guterres,
Excellencies, Distinguished delegates,
Firstly, I thank the Government and the people of Spain for hosting this important Conference and for their warm hospitality in this beautiful city of Seville.
Every country aims to improve lives and secure a better future for its people. Sustainable development is central to that ambition.
But for developing countries, structural barriers in the global financial system make progress more challenging.
That is why development must be purposeful. Driven by vision, strategy, and sustained investment, despite global challenges.
Under the leadership of President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, the Maldives is making that choice.
We are taking bold steps to become a developed country by 2040.
Yet, this is being tested by a global environment marked by geopolitical tensions and division.
Conflicts are affecting supply chains, increasing uncertainty, and increasing risks.
These global challenges highlight the need to build resilience from within.
As such, the Maldives is investing in expanding the economy to strengthen its foundation for long-term growth.
Last year, we began offering international bunkering services, and we are also expanding trade partnerships to boost value-added fisheries exports. This supports the balance of trade and increases foreign currency reserves.
We are building a modern financial system through the Maldives International Financial Services Authority and developing the Maldives International Finance Centre as a financial free zone, which has already secured up to $8 billion in investment commitments.
To support these reforms, the Development Bank of Maldives was created to finance long-term social and economic development, with domestic resource mobilisation as a key strategy.
The Maldives values the potential of its young population and is investing in inclusive, climate-positive enterprise development.
We are promoting micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises, with a focus on empowering women and youth supported by a creative economy strategy that nurtures local talent and strengthen community-driven growth.
We are upgrading infrastructure to support key sectors like tourism. This July, the new terminal at Velana International Airport will open, tripling capacity to 7 million passengers every year, and unlocking new economic opportunities.
Together, these efforts expand the Maldives’ development space and boost resilience amid global uncertainty.
However, ambition alone isn’t enough. The international financing system is uneven, outdated, and does not reflect our realities.
For many developing countries, especially SIDS, unsustainable debt is the greatest barrier to progress.
We are ineligible for concessional finance to recover from external shocks.
We are therefore forced to rely on commercial borrowing for the basic needs of development.
The Maldives advocates a “debt relief for resilience-building” mechanism, urging creditors to link relief to a country’s investment in building resilience.
This provides SIDS the fiscal space to invest in their development, without creating new debt.
The Seville Commitment must turn words into action, giving countries the space and tools to achieve sustainable development.
Achieving this vision requires courage, cooperation, and reform of a system that too often leaves the most vulnerable behind.
The Maldives sees a clear path forward:
We must invest in national capacity,
reform the global financial architecture,
enable meaningful debt relief,
and act with urgency and purpose.
Above all, we must think big. That is the only way to realise the promise of the 2030 Agenda—for all countries, on their terms.
I thank you.