The president of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta was received by President of the Republic of Maldives, Mr. Mohamed Nasheed, during his recent State visit to the Republic of Maldives, where the two leaders discussed at length the vibrant relations between the two countries and exchanged their views on regional and global issues of interest for both countries.
Realizing the importance to build and enhance closer cooperation between the two island states, two initial agreements on education, culture, tourism and visa arrangements were signed by the Foreign Ministers of the two countries.
The two leaders reviewed in depth the challenges of Climate Change, sustainable development and poverty eradication faced by the least developed countries in the world, specially small island states and landlocked states in the Asia, Africa and Pacific region and agreed that innovative, practical and pragmatic approaches needed to be taken by leaders of these countries to address this pressing issue.
The two leaders noted that while Asia is undoubtedly the most affluent, dynamic and promising region in the world, it is also one that faces the greatest challenges ranging from demographic pressure to extreme poverty and environmental degradation, therefore they urged Asian leaders take the lead on seeking innovative and pragmatic solution to complement the implementation of UNFCCC processes in dealing with climate challenges and the operationalization of Copenhagen Accord in such a way that it can contribute to the attainment of sustainable development and poverty eradication in the Asian region.
The two leaders acknowledged that Copenhagen Accord is an important step forward to address the challenges of Climate Change and called upon Asian countries to speed up their process to associate themselves with the accord.
