Maldives and Sri Lanka to enter into new treaties to increase economic cooperation
Daily FT: Maldives and Sri Lanka have agreed to enter into new treaties to increase economic cooperation.
This development came up for discussion when the Maldives Foreign Affairs Minister Moosa Zameer called on Prime Minister Dinesh Gunawardena at the Temple Trees in Colombo on Thursday.
During the meeting they exchanged views on strengthening existing areas, and exploring new avenues of cooperation, particularly on trade, investment, education and culture.
Minister Zameer said his country is very keen to expand relations with Sri Lanka and the proposed bilateral treaties and Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) would help to further strengthen economic cooperation between Maldives and Sri Lanka.
It is proposed to sign an Investment Protection Treaty, Double Tax Avoidance Agreement and to facilitate remittances by Sri Lankans employed in the Maldives who receive payment in Maldives currency and to facilitate Maldivian students and medical tourists to make payments in Sri Lanka.
He thanked the Prime Minister for the support given in the education sector and urged to facilitate education opportunities for more Maldives students. “Like many Maldivians, I also studied in Sri Lanka,” Minister Zameer said.
He said Maldives wants to recruit Sri Lankan teachers and doctors and requested the Prime Minister to consider a government-to-government agreement for this purpose.
The Prime Minister said he would extend fullest cooperation to implement all the suggestions made by the Maldivian minister. He requested the Maldives Government to provide free passage to genuine fishermen from Sri Lanka. Minister Zameer said his government has introduced drawn crafts to monitor vessel movements and it would ensure safe passage for fishing vessels.
The Prime Minister stressed the need to enhance cooperation in the tourism and energy sector, especially solar and wind power.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka and Maldives enjoy strong bilateral and trade ties. There are many Sri Lankan businesses operating in Maldives and vice versa. The two countries are now working towards further strengthening these ties. It is in such a backdrop that Sri Lanka and Maldives have expressed interest in expanding cooperation in several key economic sectors. While there’s a large number of Maldivian students receiving education in Sri Lanka, local leisure and hospitality businesses have expanded operations to Maldives as well. All these are indicative of the mutual cooperation between the two countries. Foreign businesses interested in doing business with Maldives could look at setting up base in Sri Lanka to engage with Maldives. They could also look at forming collaborations with Sri Lankan businesses with the aim of forming partnerships with Maldivian business entities as well, especially in the fields of tourism, fisheries and energy.