Seventh National Development Plan.

In order to advance the core policies of the governments for pursuit of social, economic developments, prosperity, stability and peace for the Maldivian people, the government has formulated this Seventh National Development Plan in 2006. It is a multisectorial plan that aims to spell out the developmental agenda for the next five years.
The basic task of the 7th National Development Plan is to eliminate poverty and bring non-declining well-being to all Maldivians.
In order to achieve this task, the national agenda emphasizes re-building of the national to achieve four broad results through attaining 12 goals.
In order to eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition, the government plans to improve health care and enhance well-being. The performance targets are: (i) increase percentage of children consuming fruits and vegetables daily from 30 percent to 60 percent, (ii) reduce the per-natal mortality rate from 19 to below 15 1per 10,000 live births, (iii) ensure the sustainable management of marine, ( iv) ensure food security and improve the nutritional status of the rural and urban population, (v) carry out national campaign on food and nutrition by developing food recipes and food processing and preparation technology in collaboration with the ministry of health, (vi) increase access to safe drinking water for 100 percent of the population.
To make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable, the government plans the following activities: (i) to increase share of non-skipjack tuna fish catch to 15 percent of annual catch, (ii) sport and facilitate the establishment and development of a mariculture industry, (iii) strengthen and expand research capacity to broaden our knowledge base for effective development and management of the marine resources, (iv) ensure sustainable development of agriculture and forestry development.
Regarding the reduction of the rural poverty, the government plans to empower women and advance protection for children, elderly, people with disabilities, poor and other vulnerable groups, among others the following strategies: (i) provide access to social protection services for children, women and family through establishment of social protection centres in all atolls, (ii) increase the proportion of students who achieve minimum entrance requirement for tertiary education annually from 25 percent to 50 percent, (iii) reduce youth employment from 16 to 10 percent, (iv) increase female labour force participation rate from 52 percent to 60 percent, (v) ensure the availability of legal and regulatory tools to protect the rights of people with disabilities by 2010, (vi) strengthen local governance and public administration, (vi) strengthen the employment legal framework in the line of international organisation standards, (vii) promote youth interest in employment, (viii) ensure sustainable socioeconomic development of fishing communities to maximise social and economic benefits.
To enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the government plans to enhance trade, support businesses and build competitive industries through among others, the following strategies: (i) increase export of goods as percent of GDP by 40 percent by 2010, (ii) replace imports of at least 6 agriculture products which are commonly used in Maldives, (iii) sport the development of small and medium enterprise (SMEs), (iv) develop systems, networks and physical infrastructure for strengthening marketing and trade and encourage commercial agriculture.
To increase the resilience of livelihood to disasters, the government plans to protect natural environment and make people and property safer. To achieve this, the following activities will be implemented: (i) ensure that 75 percent of all inhabited islands have adequate solid waste management facilities, (ii) give protected status to 5 percent of the coral reef areas.
In the context of governance, the national planning council in the context of its role under the presidential decree and ongoing restructuring and revitalization of the government would assist the cabinet by overseeing government wide coordination in the implementation of 7NDP and making recommendations in this regard.