President of Maldives meets Blue Sky delegation from the UK

The President of the Maldives Dr Abdul Gayoom met with a British media group, currently visiting the Maldives to study the tsunami effects and the recovery work, the effects of global warming on the environment of the Maldives and the ongoing democratic reform agenda in the country.

Speaking during the meeting, the President briefed the journalists on the current activities of the post-tsunami recovery programme. He also spoke on the environmental challenges facing the Maldives and the ongoing work to usher in a modern democracy to the country.

The meeting was followed by a private meeting with group leader Nic Careem, founder of the Blue Sky Network and organiser of the trip to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, to discuss the future of the Islands which literally disapeared for five minutes from satellite images during the Tsunami.

Nic Careem said: "The Maldives is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We all found Dr Gayoom to be an impressive man who has made some genuine steps towards democratic reform. We were able to go wherever we wanted, without any restrictions, and speak to anyone we wanted to. Dr Gayoom spoke of his concerns on global warming nearly two decades before Al Gore and has even written a book about it. We were all impressed with the healthcare and prison system. In fact health care is as good as anything you find in the NHS. As no one pays tax on the Maldives this level of care is remarkable. We were also allowed to visit one of the few Islands prisons in the world. We were impressed with the humanity shown to prisoners. All cells had fans, showers and toilets. One of our party, a retired judge and QC, was heard to jokingley ask one of the offficals whether he could book two weeks on the island for his family in July."

Earlier in the week the group visited Sri Lanka, where they met with the Defence Minister and Tourist Minister to discuss ways Blue Sky could help with the peace process.

"The truth is a tourist dying from a knife or gun attack is far greater in London than it is anywhere in Sri Lanka or the Maldives. Nevertheless, unless the country sorts out its political problems it is in danger of destroying itself. There must be a sensible resolution to this crisis and Blue Sky is planning a "live aid" style concert on the island with international stars" said a spokesperson for the group.

The retired Judge Dr John Roberts said: "it's so important that people visit these wonderful islands with such kind and generous people - tourism is the lifeblood of these countries and it is important that people experience the beauty and not get put off by scare stories in the media. London is a far more dangerous place then Sri Lanka or the Maldives"

The trip was part of Blue Sky Network's mission to bring a new kind of thinking to address world issues from global poverty to ethnic conflicts.

Blue Sky is in discussion with major music impresarios about holding an international concert for peace on Sri Lanka - a sort of "Live Aid for peace" on the Island with major artists from the US, UK and Asia performing on the Bill.

Source: Clickwalla

‘S Asia’s poverty could fall dramatically if growth continues’

Poverty in South Asia, the region with the world’s largest concentration of poor people, could fall dramatically within a generation if the current pace of economic growth continues, the World Bank said on Wednesday.

The region’s economies have grown strongly in recent years, led by India, which has posted growth rates of up to 9 percent in the last year, compared with 5 or 6 percent on average in the last 10 to 15 years, said John A Roome, the bank’s operations director for South Asia.

South Asia has been also successful in significantly reducing the number of poor people, Roome said. About 150 million people have been lifted out of poverty in the last 10 to 15 years, he said at a press conference. “These positive trends give us a lot of optimism,” Roome said. “If certain key challenges can be addressed, poverty can be significantly reduced, if not eliminated, within a generation.”

Roome did not elaborate on the bank’s projections for reducing poverty, but bank said in its January report that the proportion of people living in extreme poverty, defined as those living on less than $1 a day, should fall by at least by one-half between 1990 and 2015.

The challenges include sustaining and accelerating the rates of growth in the region, which covers Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Governments must also address the rising inequality, and tackle malnutrition and infant mortality, Roome said, in Tokyo with other World Bank officials for annual consultations with the Japanese government and businesses.

The bank said in the January report on eliminating poverty that South Asia also needed to improve infrastructure, citing daily power outages in Bangladesh and Nepal and impassable rural roads in the impoverished state of Bihar in India. It also called for improvement in the investment climate by reducing the red tape required to start a business.


Source: ap