Distinguished delegate!
Ladies and gentlemen!
Good Morning, Good Afternoon and Good Evening. I would like to begin by greeting and thanking IOM’s Regional Director, Dr. Nenette Motus for her welcome remarks.
I would like to welcome the distinguished representatives of 13 participating countries of this ANDEX forum.
I would also like to welcome the International Organizations including Canadian Border Services Agency, INTERPOL, FRONTEX and UNODC for participating as observers in this meeting.
I would also like to welcome the representatives of Observer countries to the 6th ANDEX meeting and hope that they will decide to join the ANDEX Network in the coming future.
I am extremely happy and thankful to the Member States that Maldives got to hold this meeting. But I would be even happier if I could have everyone in Maldives and enjoying this meeting with a different view.
Nevertheless, even in these unprecedented times, we are gathered here even virtually in this platform, in our relentless efforts to raise collective awareness and enhance regional cooperation to combat irregular migration and other related crimes.
With the support of Member States, ANDEX has provided a key regional platform for dialogue and information sharing to tackle irregular migration, human trafficking, migrant smuggling and other transnational organized crimes through coordination and cooperation among Member States. As a Member State Maldives has immensely benefited as being a member of this forum. The information and knowledge gained through the ANDEX engagement is directly filtered down to the relevant agencies and border officers.
The expansion of ANDEX’s role as a regional platform shows the Member States commitment and willingness to effectively address our shared goals to address border challenges.
Over the course of the next three days, I no doubt the esteem participants of this forum will share a wealth knowledge and deliberate on matters of mutual concern to address irregular migration while facilitating genuine travellers and regular migration.
Before concluding I would like to thank to His Excellency David McKinnon, High Commissioner of Canada to the Maldives and the Government of Canada’s generous support for the activities of ANDEX.
Last but not least I would like to thank IOM for organizing and providing the secretariat support and assistance to hold this 6th ANDEX meeting.
I wish everyone Good luck and Thank You!