Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, All the participants, and my colleagues,
And I wish you a very nice day but it is raining outside.
It is my great pleasure, to join you this afternoon. In the closing ceremony of the Maldives National HR convention and Expo. I was lucky enough to be a part of this last year. Thank you very much Mr. Afeef and the team for inviting me.
And I see great speakers from far and wide travelled to the Maldives. And I welcome the whole delegation and thank you very much for giving us your knowledge and contributing to our colleagues here. Thank you very much.
We all believe, and this Administration, the President; Ibrahim Mohamed Solih believes that, very firmly, that the future of a country depends on a very able leadership. And today, we are doing all we can. For the last four years investing on Education. Investing on Higher Education. Investing on programs that will enhance qualities, competencies of those who are going to run the country tomorrow.
Actually, the Covid-19, all the way came and really tested us. It tested our strength. Today we have learned where we are stronger, where we are weaker. It gave us so many lessons. And one area that we were tested was in the area of human resources. We know that every country prosper, with an able leadership and that comes after giving so many chances to grow. Likewise other countries and more than that we found out that we need to really focus very much on the areas that we are short of. We have done some training needs, national training needs, and found out those areas. And for that the Government is investing heavily and we are very much promoting on building a better team that is more resilient to the shocks that unexpectedly come and meet us.
I saw the leadership, the responsibility, and so many things. I could have actually come yesterday. I was not. Any way able to come since I was not in Male’.
Leadership is everything I believe. And sometimes when we talk about leadership, something that it is just the leaders, that is, those top people that maybe the President, or the Ministers, or the CEO’s those are the only Leaders. But to us today, we know that each and every person in the team is a leader. It is an important person. It is a very very important person.
And you are a leader, you are a CEO, or you maybe the Managing Director of the company, or the General Manager, and everybody says yes. I’am the manager, I’am the CEO, very true it is up. But to me, I believe the leadership quality, the best quality of a leader should be to really take charge of those employees, those staff, with him. That thing has to come. We often find out that the leaders, the managers will always come and than asks; hey have you really done your work? Did you do it well? Did you come on time? What is your plan for tomorrow? And all sorts of things just only related to the work. But we as leaders, we as managers, I think we should understand things from the point of view of the employee. We all are human beings. We all come from some place. We all have families. We all as human beings have problems, personal problems. And we all know that, this Covid came and then gave us something. It was never like before. Mental, mental issues, wellbeing, workplace wellbeing which is very very important.
So, I know that, the speakers; those international and our local speakers must have Spoken, definitely spoken about all this. Maybe I’am repeating everything here maybe. I think I’am repeating. But as a leader I think you have to take care of your employees. Ask them how they are. Ask them about their families. Ask them about their children. Ask them about their work. Ask them if they are satisfied. If they are happy with the work. If there is anything you as CEO’s, you as managers can do. What can we do to help them? For them to be more professional. For them to be more accountable. For them to do everything better. I think this is what we need. We can learn. We have had many programmes last few years we have had many programmes that is designed for you. For those employees, for executives to enhance, to enrich the qualities. We can do it. We can do it many times. But what is the change? If we don’t want to bring the change, with in us, that’s not going to help. We can bring from America, we can bring from Australia, the United Kingdom, we can bring those speakers and motivational speakers from all around the world. We can bring you the best. But remember, unless you want to change, what you have learnt from what you have learnt that’s not going to help. That’s not going to help.
So please my colleagues, make the best use of this rare opportunity. You know the world is in a difficult situation. And again, after the covid, we have to find a defend way; an alternative. We have to change our lifestyle. We have so much of challenges. We have pressing issues. I read this morning, on BBC that the United Nations, finally, after many years of discussions have come to an agreement that is a treaty signed to protect the high seas 30 percent by 2030.
So, we as human beings, we as teams, we need to have targets. We have net zero targets 2030. We had Carbon emissions targets for 2050 and then 2070. We have lots of targets. So everyday whatever we do we have to have a target. We have to have a goal. We have to have a direction. Which is very very very important.
So know I don’t have time. I know I don’t have time. I could have come little earlier. But you put me the last. And I know when people wait for the last, I can see some people maybe you know looking at watch, maybe you know. Because they have got something now. They must be having something to early to attend something. I know that but please, spare with me because I don’t get this opportunity to talk to you.
I know there are about 400 very good people I would say again here. But we have more people outside. Those who are unable to join here. So please pass the message. Knowledge is something not only for you. You know knowledge is given to you, God Almighty you know bless us with the knowledge not only for you. It is just for everyone. Whatever you know, you have to pass it to other person. That’s what we should do. And no matter what happens, the knowledge that you have acquired nobody can take it away. The good character you have, nobody can take it away. The personality you have, nobody can take it away. You may not be in your job, I may not be in my job, but if someone has been good to someone, that will forever be there. That will always be there. Okay.
I think I should mention something about the pressing issues. Now all of you know that while we work, we have our job description, we have our responsibilities, we know what we should do in the office. But we should not forget that there is another responsibility too. Because I saw from here there is responsibility. You know, we have lots of challenges issues. That we need all the hands. We need everybody to work on this. The climate change. The climate issues. Carbon emission, a cleaner environment. To reduce all these, we need everyone. Everyone to work on this.
I know Maldives is the smallest country. And actually, as for carbon emission and climate change and global heating, we contribute nothing. It may be just zero, zero, zero, zero point something. And yet we are the forefront. The hardest hit is on us, even if there is a sea level rise or global warming not our fault. Not our fault at all. We can say it is the industrial countries, the rich countries, the big countries. We can always blame. But let’s do our part.
We today promise to do all what we can for a cleaner environment. To protect our environment. To reduce carbon. To not let anyone litter anything on the road and to treat people nicely. With respect and humanity. That’s what we should do. And not to leave anyone behind.
You know that, this administration, we believe, the President believe that, we can never go forward. You are mentioning forward. We can never go forward with leaving anyone behind. Especially women. Especially women. They are so powerful. And this administration, surprising it is amazing to see the number of women involved in the cabinet, in the councils, in other decision-making levels. In the policy making level. No country can prosper. No country, never in the world can prosper leaving the our better half I can say.
You know empowering women; we are empowering families. We are empowering Societies. And we are empowering the country. A nation. So just see the power of women. So, this Administration, we truly believe that we can’t. We can’t go alone.
So, today I also want to give a special thanks to all those great women in this country who is contributing from women development committees to other levels in this Administration in the private sector.
I think I should stop now. I have got a lot. I have got a lot. Next time, next March, please give me a chance. Because I know that you have, my watch is not working. Okay there. It’s 5:30 now. So, I know you must have already set some meetings for 5:30.
Well, I just want to thank, Mr. Afeef and the whole team. They have contributed a lot to us. To the Country. To the Government. Because we have, I have mentioned that we have had similar programs. And we have also had programs that was funded by organized by the United Arab Emirates last year. And I was fortunate enough to be there even with some of my colleagues I can see from here. It’s all about enhancing, everyday, every step, every move we make let’s learn something. And learning is not enough. You have to make use of that. Make use of what you learn. It is just a book. There is no difference. If you just learn and then you just go backward. So, you need to move forward. For that please, make use of what you learn. Think about. We have the brain. That’s the difference between human being. We have to have a great mind. We have to think about what is happening in the world. What is happening there was an earthquake in Nepal in 2015 which devastated millions of lives. Killed at least 9000 people. That was in 2015. And today last month very unfortunate, we cried. Syria and Turkey, I don’t know the number even. What, Billions. Trillions. So, it is affecting.
So today, the world need to work together. After all we all are human beings. We don’t look at colors. We don’t look where people come from. We are just only saying human beings. So, we need to work together. That the pain of the person it is with us. We have the same pain. So, we need to work together.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today even for this, your country, our country if you want to have peace, stability, prosperity, and if you want our children to lead the country, we have to be examples. We have to help everyone. We have to be kind to the people empathetic, respect. Don’t mock at people. Don’t just mock at people how a person look like. No. it’s coming from there. God. No fault. People may look different physically, mentally, somebody might be there who needs help. We have to accept. After all this is all an inclusive world, an inclusive community, so let’s join our hands together. And we say, we all together will lead the world. The country. And then we go for success. If you do good work, with a good intention, Almighty will bless us with what we want.
So Ladies and Gentlemen,
Once again thank you very much. Next year I will be on the first day. Thank you very much for this opportunity and once again thank you all those who have travelled to Maldives from far and wide. Thank you very much for contributing, for giving us your knowledge. It is I think it has been in a very interesting, enjoyable two days here. And I’m sure, you will enjoy this beautiful, beautiful Maldives that is second to none in this world.
Thank you very much.