UN General Assembly
1989

Maldives therefore strongly supports the call for environmental preservation and is already a party to the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Our interest in the issue continues undiminished, and we welcome the universal interest that has been expressed in the preservation of the environment. I should like also to mention that in November this year the Maldives will host a conference of small States on sea-level rise. We are confident that the conference will contribute to the global efforts in addressing this important issue. It is an old and true maxim that the best indicator of the strength and stability of an international security system or political order is the survival of its weakest members. That being the case, and in view of the implications, the ever-increasing dangers of terrorism and mercenarism to the sovereignty of small and weak States are appalling.