Underscoring the Maldives’ graduation from the United Nations’ list of Least Developed Countries, President Mohamed Nasheed has said for the Maldives to move forward from this point, it should follow the path of more developed societies.
Addressing the people of Hinnavaru of Lhaviyani Atoll, the President said following the Maldives’ graduation to become a Middle-Income Country, it would lose various privileges and benefits including higher levels of overseas development aid.
Therefore, he said, we could not be trapped in the backward thinking that the country was movable from place to place or anyone could "take the country away."
He said, if we let these types of counter-progressive thinking shape the political wisdom, the country would move backwards and would be debt ridden.
The President noted that, if the country were to move forward from its current status, we should be open to establish and promote relations with all the countries and international organisations.
In his address to the people of Hinnavaru last evening, the President also highlighted the importance of making land a commercial good. He said if were to get the best use out of land, we should be able to transfer the ownership of land or we should be able to sell or buy it in the market.
In addition, the President also noted that reducing the cost of goods and services was a key government pledge.
He said the biggest obstacle to making considerable progress towards reducing the cost of goods and services was the import duty imposed in goods and services that were sold in the country.
Speaking in this regard, he stated that the government was not able to ease import duties due the absence of a mechanism to tax business profits.
However, he noted that the People’s Majlis has passed the Business Profit Tax Bill, and when the government begins taxing the business profits, the government would have made considerable headway in delivering its pledge.