Your Excellency Lt. Gen. Hussain Muhammad Ershad, President of the Council of Ministers of Bangladesh, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Fifty years ago, any Bengali who visits the Maldives may well have been asked whether he had any setigam karudhaas or Chittagong paper, a variety of thin brown paper supposed to be very effective in preparing charms to ward off illness or other evils. This may not reflect well on the mentality of many Maldivians of those days, but it certainly speaks of the traditional trade ties between the Maldives and Bengal.
The coveted Chittagong paper was not the only Bengali import that was in demand in this country; more importantly, the copper cauldrons in which our most important export product, maldive fish, was processed also used to come from Bengal. It may therefore be said that our very livelihood those days was closely linked to Bengal and its imports.
It is indeed a very great pleasure for me to greet the leader of a country with which the Maldives has had such strong ties in the past. I am therefore honoured and privileged to extend a most warm welcome to Your Excellency on behalf of the Government and people of the Republic of Maldives and on my own behalf.
Your Excellency:
In welcoming you in Male’, I fondly recall the gracious hospitality Your Excellency and your government accorded to me and my colleagues during our visit to Sonar Bangladesh in the spring of this year, prior to our meeting again at the Seventh Non-Aligned Summit in New Delhi. Your return visit to our country is of great significance to us for many reasons.
Our two countries have enjoyed historical and cultural ties through peaceful contact and trade, so much so that we have our own Dhivehi names for your country and towns: Bangaalhu for Bengal and Setigam for your famous port Chittagong. Bengali the lyrical language of your great poet Kazi Nazrul Islam and our language, Dhivehi, are commonly derived from Sanskrit. For centuries, our ships have visited your shores for trade and come back laden with silks loved by our ladies and tobacco preferred by our fishermen. They also brought with them unforgettable impressions of the lush beauty of your country and the colourful hues of your fields and the splendour of your rivers and valleys.
According to the well-known Arab traveller and historian Ibn Battuta, who wrote a lengthy account of his visit to this part of the world in the 14th century, the father of Sultan Umar Weer Jalaluddin and the grandfather of the most famous queen in our history, Rehendhi Khadeeja, who ruled the country for over thirty years, was a Bengali. This information, though not verified by other sources, could well be true since it was during Rehendhi Khadeeja’s reign that Ibn Battuta visited these islands.
Stronger than the historical and trade ties that have existed between our two countries for many centuries are the inseparable bonds of our Islamic faith. When I recall my first meeting with Your Excellency around this time last year, I cannot but feel how appropriate it was for both of us, as representatives of two Muslim countries, to have met in the cradle of Islam, the holy city of Mecca. The time and place of our first handshake have indeed given our bilateral relations a new sense of purpose and direction.
Your Excellency:
Though both our countries have a long history behind us, we are, in a sense, young nations and we are tackling our social and economic problems with youthful vigour and determination. The Maldives attained full independence from the British protectorate status in 1965. Bangladesh won its nationhood after its heroic struggle in 1971. Our two countries have since then adopted a common approach to the major political and economic problems affecting our countries, our region and the world at large.
Bangladesh - a large country with its teeming millions - and Maldives - a very small country which counts its population only in thousands, and that too scattered over 202 tiny islands - are classified by the United Nations among the least developed countries of the world. Both our countries are trying hard in difficult conditions and against a backdrop of a discouraging world economic and political climate, not only to develop our economies but see to it that the fruits of progress reach and enrich the life of the common man - the farmer in Bangla villages and the fisherman on Maldivian islands.
I am very pleased, Your Excellency, to note the rapidly growing co-operation between our two countries since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1978. On our Republic Day, 11th November, last year, we were happy to welcome your Minister of Finance and Planning, Mr. A.M.A. Muhith, for the inauguration of the Bank of Maldives, the first joint venture between our two countries. We also received your Minister of Education, Religion and Culture, Dr. Majeed Khan, on the occasion of the Seminar on the Call for Islam in South and South East Asia which was held in Male’ in January this year. Tonight, I have much pleasure in welcoming again your Foreign Minister, Mr. Shams-ud Doha, after his first visit to Male’ two months ago. During that visit, our two governments issued a joint statement embodying our common approach to bilateral, regional and international matters, and signed two agreements: on culture, education and sports; and on the abolition of visas between our two countries.
Your Excellency:
In the United Nations and at other international conferences, our two countries have been expressing identical views towards all global and regional issues, based on the principles of peace, justice, equality and non-interference in the internal affairs of other states.
In this connection, I wish to reiterate our condemnation of the continuing Israeli aggression against Arab countries and the Palestinian people, and our abhorrence of the ruthless killing of unarmed men, women and children in the Palestinian refugee camps, an abominable crime far which the whole world has condemned the Israelis and their surrogates. A lasting solution to the Palestine issue and indeed the Middle East problem which takes into account the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and the Arab nations must be found if a durable peace is to be achieved in that region and in the world.
I also wish to re-affirm our call for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and Kampuchea and to respect the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-aligned status of these countries.
We also share the profound regret felt by Muslims all over the world over the continuing conflict between Iran and Iraq. We are concerned that the escalation of hostilities of the last few days may hinder the efforts to find an early solution to the crisis.
We in the Maldives are particularly dismayed that the Indian Ocean is fast becoming a hotbed for great power rivalry. In New Delhi we issued a collective call, one of many such calls, for the speedy implementation of the United Nations Resolution declaring the Indian Ocean a Zone of Peace. We express our hope once again that the proposed Colombo Conference on the Indian Ocean will soon be convened.
The Maldives strongly supports your Government’s efforts to promote regional co-operation in South Asia. We believe that the preparatory stage has sufficiently advanced to permit the launching of the Integrated Programme of Action with a view to embarking on collective schemes with the aim of improving the quality of life of the people of the region.
On the international economic scene, Bangladesh and the Maldives, together with other countries of the third world, have been trying to drive home the need for a new International Economic Order that would ensure a more equitable redistribution of the world’s productive resources for the betterment of mankind. We are deeply disappointed by the negative position taken by the industrialized countries at the Sixth United Nations Conference on Trade and Development in Belgrade last month. The grave economic ills beleaguering the entire world today cannot be cured unless the advanced countries accepted the economic facts of life. The world economy is too integrated for the North to sustain its prosperity without the development of the South. I have been told that a third of the exports of one particular industrialized country goes to developing countries and that a sixth of their work force is employed on this production. Should the developing nations become unable to absorb that country’s exports, its factories will stop production and millions will lose their jobs.
We of the third world find it a great tragedy that when hundreds of millions of people all over the world are living in abject poverty and misery, the equivalent of half of the total income of all the developing countries are spent on armaments. Advanced technology has given us many wonderful things luxurious cars, computers, colour television and spacecraft, to name but a few. But it has failed to give us peace of mind, happiness or harmony among nations. This can only be achieved through moral and spiritual upliftment. It is time that mankind accepted this basic truth taught by all religions.
“Light has come to you from Allah and the Book which guides to the Truth, whereby Allah leads to the paths of peace those who seek His pleasure; He brings them out of darkness into the Light of His grace and guides them towards the Right Way" (Surah V:15,16)
Your Excellency:
We welcome you in the Maldives not only as the leader of a friendly Muslim country, but also as a friend and a brother and we would like you to enjoy your stay here.
I know that you are an excellent sportsman and a keen golf player. Unfortunately, many of our islands are smaller that an average golf course; and the stretches of water between them are two wide to put a shot across. However, we hope to be able to appeal to your equally keen aesthetic sense by showing you the traditional attractions of our island-nations - the sandy beaches, the blue lagoons, the pure air and the glorious sunsets. These sunsets, during the soft evening light, sheath our resplendent islands and clear waters in a spellbinding web of gold, so that like your Sonar Bangladesh we also sing of our Ran Dhivehi Raajje - the Golden Maldives.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
May I now invite you to raise your glasses to join me in a toast:
To the health and happiness of His Excellency Lt. Gen, Hussain Muhammad Ershad, President of the Council of Ministers of Bangladesh.
For the prosperity of Bangladesh; and
For the continued friendship and co-operation between our two governments and peoples.