Indian Commerce & Industry Minister visits Maldives

The Minister of Commerce & Industry, Government of India Anand Sharma arrived in Male yesterday on a two-day official visit to Maldives. At the airport, the Minister was received by the Minister of State for Economic Development of Maldives Ahmed Mujthaba, the High Commissioner of India in Maldives Dnyaneshwar M. Mulay and senior officials of the foreign Ministry.

In the afternoon, Anand Sharma called on the President of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed for wide ranging discussions on economic cooperation between India and Maldives. During the meeting, the Indian Minister outlined the new long-term concessional credit scheme for project exports launched by the Government of India and assured to encourage major Indian companies to participate in infrastructure building in Maldives. Anand Sharma also invited an official delegation from Maldives to visit Indian research institutes and identify themselves appropriate technologies for implementation in Maldives.

At the meeting, President Nasheed thanked the Indian government for all the assistance provided to Maldives and also for the recent release of export quota for the supply of essential commodities to Maldives. The meeting was attended by Vice President Dr. Mohamed Waheed, Special Envoy of the President Ibrahim Hussain Zaki, Foreign Minister Ahmed Naseem, Economic Development Minister Mahmood Razee and Foreign Policy

Advisor to President Dr. Ahmed Shaheed from the Maldivian side and the High Commissioner of India Dnyaneshwar M.Mulay and the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India Arvind Mehta from the Indian side.

It may be recalled that earlier this week, the Government of India had issued the quota for export of essential commodities for three years instead of one year to help improve the supply situation in Maldives. During the visit, the Indian Minister would be attending the Fifth Meeting of the SAFTA Ministerial Council in Male’ on 13 June.