Maldives government enjoys close and friendly ties with the UK and would look to sign a bilateral trade pact in the near future, Maldives Ambassador to Britain Ahmed Shiaan has said.
The UK government has long been accused of favouring the opposition especially after Britain political asylum to several political leaders including former president Mohamed Nasheed.
Regional giants India reportedly blames the UK of pushing Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) – the enforcement mechanism of the Commonwealth to place the Maldives on its formal agenda which finally prompted the archipelago to quite the now 52 member bloc.
Maldives left the Commonwealth last month citing unfair and unjust treatment weeks after CMAG threatened to suspend Maldives from the council at its next meeting in March if effective steps were not taken to resolve the ongoing political crisis in the archipelago .
Opposition feared the decision to leave the Commonwealth could deteriorate ties with the UK, but Shiaan in an interview with Avas on the sidelines of the World Travel Market in London, said Britain has intensified efforts to boost bilateral ties post-Brexit.
"We've even written to the UK trade minister expressing our interest to sign a mutually beneficial trade pact between the two countries. We're extremely confident that we would succeed," Shiaan explained.
The ambassador reiterated that the claims of strained relations with the UK were completely unfounded, insisting that the ties would be further enhanced in the future.
"This a great opportunity for us to work with the UK government. The Maldives government has a close relationship with the UK government. We are putting in a lot of effort to further strengthen these relations and take it to the next level. Inshallah we would reap the benefits of these efforts," he added.
According to the ambassador the Maldives government is planning to host a trade and investment seminar in London before the end of the year. The main aim of this seminar would be to offer investors in UK information on economic opportunities in the archipelago including tourism, he added.
