Saudi Arabia Proposed That Maldives Be Included In Arab League: Yameen

Opposition leader, former President Abdullah Yameen Abdul Gayyoom, stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had proposed to include the Maldives in the Arab League during his term.

In a special interview given to Channel 13, the former President said that he had crafted his foreign policy to strengthen ties with countries that contributed the most towards the Maldives’ development. He said that he had prioritised Islamic countries, which had, as a result, improved relations between the Maldives and the KSA.

As an example of those improved relations, the former President cited the KSA’s proposal to include the Maldives in the Arab League. “That’s the extent to which it went”, he said. “The Saudi government proposed that the Maldives be included in the Arab League. The Maldives isn’t even an Arab country, isn’t it?”

In response to the claims that the Maldives had been very isolated under his administration, he stated that he had maintained very strong and close ties with countries that contributed towards the Maldives’ development. He stated that the ties between the Maldives and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) had never been better than it had been under his administration.

The former President did admit that ties with Europe had strained, but mentioned that those countries did not contribute much towards the Maldives’ development. He said that European countries were more concerned with strengthening democracy in the Maldives and with spreading there liberal values.