The Cabinet has today decided to investigate any possible cases of misuse of state assets and to recover state assets on corruption cases. The Cabinet made this decision at today’s cabinet meeting held at the President’s Office. The cabinet decided to carry out this work in collaboration with local and international agencies involved in such investigations.

In addition, the cabinet decided to observe a walking day as part of the programme to mark the Earth Hour 2009. The Earth Hour 2009 will be marked on 28th March. It was decided that between 1600 hrs and midnight the following day, for people to go on foot.

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. To mark the Earth Hour, the Maldives will also hold several programmes.

At today’s cabinet meeting, the members also deliberated on assigning a gender focal point in each of the government ministries. It was decided that these gender focal points will be appointed in the rank of Deputy Ministers.

Cabinet discussions were also held on finding a solution to the issue of increasing number of expatriate labourers in the Maldives. In this regard, a ministerial committee was established to oversee this issue.