Hands Over Advanced Passenger Information System to Maldives

At a ceremony held in the Male’ Ibrahim Nasir International Airport yesterday afternoon, the Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) installed by the Government of India in Maldives was formally handed over by the High Commissioner of India to Maldives Shri Dnyaneshwar M.Mulay to the Controller of Immigration & Emigration, Government of Maldives Dr. Mohamed Ali.

The Maldivian Minister of Transport & Communication Mohamed Nazim, senior officials of the Department of Immigration (GoM), Aviation Security Command (MNDF), High Commission of India and the technical team from National Informatics Center (NIC), New Delhi which set up the system in Maldives were also present on the occasion.

Speaking after receiving the APIS, the Controller of Immigration thanked the people and government of India for the extensive assistance provided in the development of Maldives and underlined that the installation of the new system marks a “giant step” forward in the capability of the Maldivian Immigration to provide better immigration service to the travellers visiting the country. Earlier in his remarks, High Commissioner Mulay described the handing over of the system as yet another milestone in the bilateral development partnership that has grown from strength to strength over the years.

The APIS will feed advance information on the passengers travelling to and from Maldives, to the Border Control System in the country, for use by the various enforcement agencies in the country like the Immigration, Customs, Police and the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF) and thus will be a big step forward in providing safe and efficient immigration service to the passengers travelling to the country. Maldives, with a population of about 350,000 is a world famous luxury tourist destination and receives close to one million foreign tourists every year.