the President of the Republic of Maldes. Bismillah Rahman Rahim. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, assalamu alayikum and salam pagi. Welcome to the ceremony to deliver the press statements by the honorable Anar Ibraim, Prime Minister of Malaysia and his excellency Dr. Muhammad Moiz, the President of the Republic of Maldives. May I first invite his excellency Dr. Muhammad Moyes to deliver the press statement. Maharan Rahim, the Honorable Amar Ibrahim, Prime Minister of Malaysia, distinguished members of both delegations, members of the media, ladies and gentlemen, assalamu alaykum and a very warm welcome. It is a great honor and pleasure to warmly welcome the honorable prime minister Amar Ibrahim and his delegation to the Maldis. Prime Minister's visit to the Maldis reciprocates the fruitful engagements we had during my official visit to Malaysia in April 2025. His visit today further strengthens the enduring friendship and the 58year diplomatic partnership between our two brotherly nations. Prime Minister and I held very fruitful discussions today on a wide range of issues of mutual interest. We reviewed progress in implementing our existing frameworks, explored new areas for partnership and welcomed the important advances made in our strategic relationship. I particularly welcome the renewed momentum in high level engagements between our two countries. Prime Minister and I agreed to maintain regular consultations and closer coordination on matters of mutual interest including through multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Commonwealth. Today we also witnessed the exchange of new cooperation agreements in two important areas which are defense cooperation and Islamic fears. These agreements open new avenues for practical cooperation and further strengthen the institutional foundations of our bilateral relationship. Malaysia has long been an important partner in the development of Maldivian human resources. I expressed my deep appreciation to the government of Malaysia for its continued support through the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Program and for expanding higher education scholarships opportunities for Mulivians. We also discussed strengthening institutional partnerships between high education institutions in our two countries. We agreed to work toward towards greater visa facilitation, expanded scholarship opportunities and joint research initiatives. I also conveyed my appreciation to the Malaysian government for the continued care and hospitality extended to the Moldivian community in Malaysia. We discussed practical ways to ease some of the challenges faced by our people, particularly Moldivian students and patients seeking specialized health care in Malaysia. Tourism remains another important bridge between our two peoples. We agreed to deepen cooperation in tourism promotion, the halal industry, cultural exchanges and Muslim friendly travel. We will also work together to increase tourism flows between our two countries and promote sustainable ecoourism, creating great opportunities for people-to-people connections and mutually beneficial economic activity. On trade and investment, we explored concrete pathways to further expand economic cooperation. Importantly, we agreed to initiate negotiations for a preferential trade agreement which has the potential to create new opportunities for businesses in both countries. I have also invited the Malaysian government and Malaysian businesses to explore investment opportunities in the Maldives, particularly in strategic sectors, including renewable energy, digital infrastructure, construction, and Islamic finance. On the international stage, the Maldives and Malaysia continue to stand together, united by our shared Islamic values and our common comm commitment to justice, peace, and human dignity. In this regard, we reiterated our unequivocal and steadfast solidarity with the Palestinian people and their legitimate right to self-determination and an independent and sovereign state based on pre967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital. I congratulated Malaysia on its highly successful chairmanship of ASEAN in 2025. I also conveyed to the prime minister the Maldives's strong commitment to closer engagement and partnership with ASEAN. As we look towards COP 31 in Turk in November, we reaffirmed our shared resolve to address the serious threat posed by climate change. For the Maldives and other small island developing states, climate change is not a distant challenge. It is an immediate reality. We therefore underscored the urgent need for predictable, accessible and adequate climate adaptation finance for seeds while maintaining the collective effort to keep the rise in global temperatures below the critical 1.5 degree threshold. Prime Minister, your visit today is a strong reaffirmation of the deep fraternal bonds, mutual respect and trust that defines relationship between the Maldis and Malaysia. The Maldis and Malaysia are not only close friends. We are brothers bound by shared values, shared aspirations, and a shared commitment to a better future. I thank you, Prime Minister, for your unwavering friendship and for the continued support of Malaysia to the Maldives. I wish you, the government, and the friendly people of Malaysia, continued prosperity, progress, and success. Thank you. >> Thank you, President Dr. Muhammad Muiz. May I now invite the Honorable Anar Ibraim to deliver the press statement. Uh and President Mohammed you've been extremely gracious and kind your hospitality displayed such friendship and brotherly relations. This is a short visit but you spend hours with me. Uh broke all this protocol imposed by the foreign ministry. sat with me uh till midnight last night and and I certainly on behalf of my colleagues expressed my profound appreciation for this uh show of uh kindness and trust. Bilateral relations must begin by a sincere appreciation of the need, the strength of one another, the respect that we have at the personal level and on behalf of our country. That is why when the president showed such foreignness and commitment, I then propose that the joint commission between these two countries be facilitated the earliest possible time and uh we can even explore the possibility of having the comp the meeting uh we will host it in Koala Lumpur by the end before the end of this year. that would showcase our commitment to enhance bilateral relations between our two brotherly and sisterly country. You know the ladies can be very sensitive. So joint commission is to me very very critical and um there's still some outstanding issues um the president to alert uh me on the need and he has written to me about the need to get our central bank Malaysia to respond to the uh Maldivian request precisely Maldiv's monetary authority MMA uh for this uh $100 million facility. We have agreed at the principle to support this. Although both the central bank and MMA will have to just work at the fastest time possible on the mechanism and the process to ensure that the uh agreement can be settled in the fastest uh time possible and this can only be done based on trust and friendship. Um on the issue you mentioned about healthcare education, we have more than 2,000 or different students in Malaysia and uh that shows the level of uh not only trust as friends but your confidence in the education system. We need to reciprocate to facilitate there's some teething uh bureaucratic issues in terms of uh process to get parents sometime to accompany the children I discuss with my colleagues and we will try and resolve this uh in that by the next cabinet meeting to take up this issue because I don't think it is the issue of policy differences we don't have problems with Maldivian living in Malaysia working in Malaysia or even studying in Malaysia So I think we'll showcase this and respond positively. Uh similarly on the issue of healthcare um the Madani economic framework places so much importance about compassion and caring on altruism on mental health and all disabled. So I don't believe that uh this uh issue cannot be resolved because it's part of our national philosophy. what is development and progress if you don't show care and compassion and so um I I do want this to be again resolved immediately not even hundreds just a few cases that um we should uh respond and assist on the issue of u the proposal to get Petronas to look at the possibility of oil exploration ation whatever mineral I will have to discuss this with Petronas and I I believe with the strength of Petronas now throughout the world from Canada to Turk Ministan to Sudan and to Surinam and Peru and Brazil I don't think it's too much a problem to come closer here uh to Maldives at least if they don't be are not able to explore oil they can at least rest a few days here now. Um the embassy issue of course is uh because we're moving most embassies to puta rosekal arrangement which can be resolved during the joint commission I believe you see your president uh I like me is very polite and softspoken but very strong in his message. So when he gives his sort of one or two three regimen like a good chemical engineer um I have no choice but to just to say I agree so we'll we'll make sure that this is done on climate change I know is very close and dear to the hearts of bulian moldivians and rightly so uh I you know express concern about the hypocrisy sometime many of the countries in the west uh but the commitment of funding has not come or come in a very small amount. So it is important for us to support this and together as friendly brotherly and sisterly nations to demand the effective execution of earlier decisions by COP including financing uh because uh climate change and effective program require additional funds uh so I think we'll will work together in this regard. On the international front, we are almost like having the same foreign policy and uh of course close to our heart is of course the Palestinian issue and the complete abandonment of moral sense and justice in Gaza. Daily killings and destruction are being tolerated by those who preach human rights and democracy elsewhere. So I appreciate the stance taken by the president and the motivating government and uh we will continue to do our utmost to assist because this is an issue not only close our hearts because of justice and freedom. Uh yesterday at the break, a day before I I mentioned the term colonization. I mean we all fought against colonization all but when it comes to lands and areas in Palestine being colonized by Israel, not many are prepared to speak up demand. So and and President Mama, you represent one voice of reason and conscience and uh I humbly submit that you are true defender of human rights and freedom. Thank you very much again. >> Thank you Prime Minister Anar Ibrahim. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the ceremony to deliver the press statements by the Prime Minister of Malaysia and the President of the Republic of Maldives. Thank you and have a good day.