UN General Assembly
1976

143. The primary concern of my Government is to improve the living conditions of our people. The Maldives is one of the smallest Member States in the United Nations. The most serious impediments to our social and economic development are our meager natural resources and the extreme fragmentation of our sprawling clusters of islands which stretch over an area of approximately 100,000 square kilometers in the Indian Ocean. 144. Until very recently, almost 90 per cent of our national income had been dependent on the fishing industry. Our efforts to find other sources of revenue have resulted in the establishment in recent years of some exchange-earning industries, the most promising of which has turned out to be tourism. The tropical beauty and the calm serenity of the sun-drenched islands have made the Maldives a country with tremendous potential for $ flourishing tourist industry.