Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed has said that the Maldives has invited the UK, USA, Japan and Honk Kong to enter discussions to enter an agreement regarding free trade. He said this while speaking at the launching ceremony of the Dhivehi Insurance Company.
The Minister said that some of these discussions have already been held, but he did not go into the details of either the invitations or the discussions. Maldives is already discussing establishing such an agreement with China.
The Minister said that Maldives gets 30 to 40% import tariff from the Chinese market through free trade, and that Maldives must consider importing and then re exporting products.
"There is no reason to do this today. We can bring any product to the Maldives. If we use this to develop our employment market, and if we utilize 31% of our resources on it, that qualifies us to sell our products to the world's biggest markets," the Minister said.
The Minister also said that more insurance companies must be opened in the Maldives, and that insurance is the solution to many setbacks faced by companies.
