Maldives' Membership in the Commonwealth and it's participation in Meetings

The Maldives joined the Commonwealth as a special member on 9 July 1982 and became a full member on 20 July 1985. The Maldives – Commonwealth relationship can be characterised as involving excellent co-operation and active participation.

In 1982, the Maldives participated for the first time in the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Regional Meeting held in Suva , Fiji . The Maldives has participated in all subsequent Commonwealth Summits: Nassau, Bahamas (1985); Vancouver, Canada (1987); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1989); Harare, Zimbabwe (1991); Limassol, Cyprus (1993); Auckland, New Zealand (1995), Edinburgh, Scotland (1997); Durban, South Africa (1999), Coolum, Australia (2002) and Abuja, Nigeria (2003).

The Maldives has also been participating in the Commonwealth Education, Finance, Health, Law, women's Affairs and Youth Ministers' Meetings.

The Maldives is also a member of Commonwealth organisations such as Commonwealth Fund for Technical Cooperation (CFTC), Commonwealth of Learning (COL) and Commonwealth Youth Programme (CYP).




Commonwealth meetings in the Maldives

The Maldives hosted the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting in 1985 and the First Meeting of the Commonwealth Youth Ministers in 1992.

Following the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' Meeting in St. Kitts and Nevis , in September 2004, it has been decided that the next meeting of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers' will be held in the Maldives.




Development Co-operation

Under the development co-operation programme between the Maldives and CFTC, Maldives benefited from training its people on short term programmes and assistance in the form of Commonwealth Experts/Consultancy work on various areas of importance for the Maldives.