“Big Challenge for Maldives Government is to Live Upto People’s Expectations of Democratic Reform” – Dutch Ambassador Susan Blankhart

Minivan Radio spends 15 Minutes with Her Excellency Susan Blankhart, the Dutch Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives

As Britain takes over the presidency of the European Union, Minivan News asks the outgoing Dutch Ambassador – who headed EU-Maldives negotiations over the last six months – about her assessment of the recent political events in the Maldives.

MR: In September 2004, following the August 12-13th crack-down by the Maldivian authorities, the European Parliament voted unanimously for European Union member states to impose sanctions on the Maldives. Would it be fair to say this represented the lowest point in Maldives-EU relations in recent years?

SB: Well, it depends how you look upon that. Maybe its not the lowest point in the Maldives-EU relations because the EU showed real engagement about what was happening in the Maldives so in that sense you could also say this was the starting point of an engagement and interest of the European Union in what is happening in the Maldives.