President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom's promise to honour the international arbitration tribunal's decision over the airport row with India's GMR has further boosted investor confidence in the Maldives, tourism minister Moosa Zameer said Monday.
Speaking at a ceremony held to mark the government's third year anniversary, Zameer revealed that president Yameen during a visit to neighbouring India before he was elected in 2013 had assured Indian firms a conducive trade environment and had especially pledged to abide by the tribunal's decision over the GMR row.
The government had been asked to pay over USD270 million in damages to India's infrastructure giant by an international arbitration tribunal over the abrupt termination of the contract to operate the airport.
The Singapore based tribunal had in February ruled in favour of the GMR group of companies on its dispute with the Maldives government on the airport project.
The government earlier this month had settled the compensation and Zameer said the quick settlement had restored foreign investor confidence in the island nation.
"It's not an easy promise for a politician to make. It's even harder to keep true to such a promise. But president Yameen has done it," Zameer noted.
Highlighting that president Yameen has ensured more economic progress in three years than the country witnessed in half a century, the minister stressed that the major changes to the legal framework has provided investor protection leading to a conducive business environment in the Maldives.
"We've turned around the investment climate in the Maldives. We've revolutionized the country's economy," he added.
Zameer also said the USD1 billion investment in the country's main airport would boost the economy twofold which in turn would double Maldives' GDP per capita.
"It won't be an exaggeration to say that Maldives is one of the few countries in this whole region whose people reap the most benefit out of the country's assets."
GMR row
The dispute stems from a 25-year contract to modernize, expand and operate the Maldives’ main international airport that the government entered into with GMR Male International Airport Pvt. Ltd. in 2010.
The mega project worth over USD500 million was awarded to GMR during the tenure of former President Mohamed Nasheed, despite concerns by the then opposition.
Shortly after the controversial resignation of Nasheed, the government kicked out GMR and cancelled its lucrative contract to run the airport.
The government has maintained that the contract was invalid in November 2012 after the parties fell into dispute over a fee GMR imposed on departing passengers, which the government said was contrary to Maldivian law.
The tribunal however, had ruled the original concession agreement was valid and binding and that the Maldives government had unlawfully repudiated it.
