Maldives president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and First Lady Madam Fathimath Ibrahim have arrived in Beijing, on Wednesday afternoon on a state visit to China.
According to the President's Office, during president Yameen’s first state visit to China, official talks will be held between the two governments – and key agreements will be signed with a view to enhance trade, professional and socioeconomic development as well as technological and other collaborations between the two countries.
"The President will also meet with key leaders of China, and discuss ways to further accelerate socioeconomic ties between the Maldives and China," President's Office said in a brief statement.
During the four day visit, president Yameen is expected to sign the controversial free trade agreement with China.
However, the government is yet to confirm that the contentious agreement would be signed during the visit only saying that "high-level discussions with top government officials and stakeholders of China will take place during the visit, and a number of agreements on bilateral cooperation will be signed."
However, according to Chinese media sources quoting an official note by the Chinese government on the Maldives president's visit, President Xi Jinping would hold high-level discussions with his Maldivian counterpart where the free trade agreement would be signed.
Government spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali however when contacted by Avas refused to confirm the reports to say that "details of the agreements to be signed with China would be disclosed in due course."
Speaker Abdulla Maseeh had called in an emergency parliament session on Wednesday to accept the agreement before immediately sending it for the national security committee for review. The committee also with government majority had signed off on the agreement in less than 10 minutes sparking opposition outrage and concern saying that lawmakers "had not even seen the actual agreement."
Thirty lawmakers present during the late Wednesday sitting voted in favour of signing the agreement, with most government MPs echoing the benefits of the pact to the archipelago with of course no opposition lawmaker present.
Maldives and China entered into free trade talks in 2014 and had held multiple rounds of discussions. Maldives is seeking tax exemption from all food and seafood products exported from the archipelago to China, which according to the government includes over 400 local products currently in the market.
Government had assured that the agreement would favour the Maldives and would provide a huge boost to the Maldives highlighting the fisheries sector as the primary beneficiary.
"The door has been opened to export our fish products to the largest consumer market in the world on zero percent [duty]," economic minister Mohamed Saeed told reporters after the cabinet gave the go ahead to sign the agreement earlier Wednesday.
"The door has been opened to export our fish products to the largest consumer market in the world on zero percent [duty]," Saeed enthused.
The minister insisted that the agreement has been designed to favour the Maldives more than China.
"... this could very well be the first time in history that such a large market has agree to deal with a small country and that too to largely favour and benefit us," he added.
