From the left to the right : Ms. Iruthisham Adam,Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of the Maldives H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Khaleel Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations, H.E. Ambassador Mr. Henry L. Mac Donald, Permanent Representative of the Republic of Suriname to the United Nations, Mrs. Asha Burkhardt-Remesar, Counsellor,Deputy-Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of Suriname

On Thursday October 23, 2008, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Suriname to the United Nations H.E. Ambassador Henry Mac Donald and the Permanent Representative of the Maldives to the United Nations H.E. Ambassador Ahmed Khaleel signed a Joint Communique to establish diplomatic relations.
The establishment of the diplomatic relations with the Maldives took place against the background of Suriname’s foreign policy in strengthening relations with friendly nations at a bilateral level, in order to call attention at the multilateral stage on issues which have a negative impact on the development of developing countries, so as to that end actions can be taken collectively.

It is worth mentioning that during a preparatory meeting for the Bali Conference on climate change last year, the Maldives introduced the principle regarding “the human dimension of global climate change”, which was strongly supported by Suriname.

It was President H.E. Maumoon Abdul GAYOOM from the Maldives who in 1987 for the first time drew the attention of the world on to the potential danger of climate change. Nowadays Maldives and Suriname are combining efforts in promoting the human dimension of climate change at the United Nations.