The United Nations (UN) Resident Coordinator for Maldives, Catherine Haswell of Australia, presented her credentials to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Sunday.
The new Resident Coordinator presented her letter of credence at a special ceremony held at the President's Office, which was attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid.
During the meeting, President Solih congratulated Haswell on her appointment and expressed appreciation for the UN's work in Maldives, such as combatting terrorism and violent extremism, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. In turn, the Resident Coordinator stated that building cohesion within the UN programmes to better coordinate the organisation's assistance to Maldives would be one of her priorities.
Haswell hailed the current government's Strategic Action Plan (SAP) as an "ambitious agenda", and assured that the UN would support the plan. She also congratulated President Solih on his administration's stand on various issues, including women empowerment and gender equality.
Conveying gratitude to the UN for its continued assistance to the island nation, he expressed confidence that Maldives-UN cooperations would be further strengthened during the new Resident Ambassador's tenure.
UN Maldives also congratulated Haswell on her appointment, declaring that the new Resident Coordinator will lead the agency to take forward UN's 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Agenda 2030, launched during a UN Summit in New York, in September 2015, aims to end poverty in all its forms.
Catherine Haswell holds a master’s in international and public law from the University of Melbourne, Australia, and has 23 years of experience in development and humanitarian work across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East.
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