Spanish giants Real Madrid's kit during last week's league match made from plastic waste received global attention because the waste was collected from Maldives, economic minister Mohamed Saeed said Sunday.
The club and kit sponsor Adidas have teamed up with the Parley for the Oceans campaign to deliver the one-off strip.
At the ceremony held Sunday at 'Dharubaaruge' by Allied, Saeed said the kit had not generated much interest until people were told that it was made from plastic waste collected from the Maldives.
"The Maldivian brand power can only truly be experienced if thinking of the Maldives while going through a particularly cold winter. It can be heard that a famous club has for the first time worn a jersey made from plastic waste collected from the ocean. It was marketed to the world as ocean plastic. But it did not receive much attention then," Saeed said.
Adidas had also recently manufactured a boot made from plastic picked up from the Maldivian seas.
Saeed noted that the world had taken notice of the feat only after Maldives was mentioned.
Saeed said what Maldives had been missing was a leader who was capable of spearheading the effort.
"When we say we can build 50 resorts, that is two billion american dollars. From where did we get the money? Not from the government! From the private sector. It was available 10-15 years ago as well, there were just difficulties in collecting it. But when a capable leader took the reigns of the country and gained the trust of the world banking system, getting money has become easy."
Minister Saeed said that one billion dollars had to be spent just on the development of Ibrahim Nasir International Airport.
"From where did we get the money? From where did we get the money? We got it because monetary agencies lent it to us. We would not get it had they not lent it. They would not lend to an unrated country. If we did not have stability. So we have to be thankful to Allah," Saeed said.
