CIIC: Let’s talk about your delegation to the Olympics, what’s your expectation on them?

M: As I have said, I hope they can do well, we definitely hope they keep on improving their national record, and the nature of the games is very competitive as you can understand, we don’t expect any miracles from them, but we would be happy if they perform well.

CIIC: Have you got any tickets for the games and would you go to the stadiums to watch some of the matches live?

M: Getting tickets is very difficult you know, because its’ not only for the 1.3 billion people in China, but also for the whole world，so it’s no easy, but the Chinese government is very kind, make it possible at least one ticket for the ambassador for the opening and closing, so I hope to utilize that opportunity, at the same time, I’m also hoping be included in Olympic contingent from Maldives. If that comes true, I would have access to most of the venues, therefore I’m looking forward to that. I’m sure you will enjoy time there.

CIIC: My last question is about the earthquake in Wenchuan, recently, our Chinese people are suffering from really serious disasters, thousands of our countrymen were killed in Sichuan province, and our government tries best to minimize the lost, I want to ask you, Mr. Ambassador, what’s your opinion on Chinese government reaction to the disaster.

M: Yes, Wenchuan Earthquake is the most devastating disaster in China in the past three decades. As soon as we heard the news, my President instantly sent his and our people’s condolence to China and Chinese people, our country has also given token donation to the relief effort of the Chinese government. Maldives is a small country, whatever we provide would be only a token, because the rehibitation and reconstruction would be of large huge, but we shared our feelings with the people in Sichuan and we have been sympathizing with the Chinese people. When our minister was here for his first visit to China, he also conveyed the feelings and sympathy of the people of Maldives to the victims in Sichuan. We have a Maldivian living in Chengdu, and we talked to her to find out her well-being, fortunately, Chengdu was not affected so much so she was safe. As regards to what the Chinese government has been able to do, I think many people are very impressed with the Chinese government and the people, the media’s courage to show the disaster to the rest of the world, has made easier for people to understand the level of devastation in the region, the kind of challenge the Chinese government and people are facing with to fight against the disaster, and the amount of work they have done. I think many people are very impressed by this. It’s remarkable how quickly the government has come to react to the disaster, and put into contingency plans and provide other elements for victims, it’s going to take a quite while for the affected people to face the realities and to regain lives and continue with their lives in the future.

CIIC: I think with the help of our Chinese government and our people, together with aids from international world, China would go through this disaster quickly. And thanks Mr. Ambassador to accept our interview and share his experience with our netizens, thank you! At the end of our program, what would you like to say to our netizens?

M: Thank you, I really think it’s a great pleasure to be here to talk to you, and to share my thoughts and feelings, also information about the Maldives. We hope we could further strengthen our relations between the two peoples, we will provide more opportunities and options for Chinese to travel to Maldives, likewise we also hope more of our people could come to China to understand and to get to know Chinese people better; we also wish a very successful Olympics; we wish the Chinese people all the best in the development of the country.

CIIC: Thanks to ambassador, thanks to our netizens to watch this program, thank you, see you next time.

(China.org.cn June 26, 2008)