A digest of news and opinion from the Maldives.
President Abdulla Yameen (C), economic minister Mohamed Saeed (L) and MACL’s managing director Adil Moosa at the ceremony to kick off development of VIA’s new runway. PHOTO: NISHAN ALI/MIHAARU Economic minister Mohamed Saeed on Monday defended the impending free trade pact between the Maldives and China, giving a heated rejoinder to opposition criticism. Members of […]
Maldives government has said that its FTA with China will not come in way of its strategic alliance with India or Sri Lanka. Addressing a press conference in Colombo on Monday, country’s minister for fisheries Mohamed Shainee said the FTA is based on pure commercial considerations and will not affect the neighbourly relations with India […]
Former President Mohamed Nasheed pictured speaking. PHOTO/PRESIDENT’S OFFICE The Maldives-China free trade agreement (FTA) is a pact that would ultimately “sell off” the archipelago to China, claimed main opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP). The remark was made by MDP’s deputy leader Mohamed Shifaz at a rally at MDP’s main hub on Sunday night to object […]
With Maldives and China entering into a Free Trade Agreement, the nitty-gritty of which is yet to be made public, there’s a mounting concern that the strategically located archipelago could be the next country to walk into a Beijing debt trap, a situation that has serious strategic ramifications for India. In an exclusive interaction with […]
The free trade agreement (FTA) that the Maldives signed last week with China has attracted a lot of attention, with concerns being expressed by Indian media about China’s growing presence in the Indian Ocean. The Maldivian government “allowed for less than one hour for the entire parliamentary process to approve the 1,000-plus page document,” and […]
Maldives is the only South Asian country that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not visited yet — one scheduled visit in March 2015 was put off. It is a sign of how much India and the Maldives have drifted apart that New Delhi appears to have been blindsided by the Free Trade Area agreement between […]
The original Dhivehi article was published on Avas.mv website on 30th March 2017. The following is a loose translation: The decision to make a Maldives – China Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was taken in December 2014, in China. And to see if this was feasible, experts from both sides met on 4 February 2015. And […]
NEW DELHI: Neighbouring Maldives could plunge into a fresh crisis with the main Opposition Maldives Democratic Party (MDP) led by former President Nasheed raising red flag over Maldives-China FTA that was rushed through Parliament on Wednesday in a record one hour without any debate. Sino-Maldivian trade balance remains considerably in favour of China, and there […]
Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom (Express photo/Renuka Puri/File) In a sudden move that has sent alarm bells ringing in New Delhi, Maldives rammed through its Free Trade Agreement with China in the Maldivian parliament last night in a session attended by only 30 out of 85 members. The haste […]