May 1st 2024.
A recent meeting between Indian High Commissioner to the Maldives, Munu Mahawar, and Maldives' Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Mohamed Saeed, has sparked discussions about potential areas for trade and economic cooperation between the two nations. The meeting, which took place on Tuesday, comes at an opportune time as India has recently allowed the export of essential commodities to the Maldives for the year 2024-25.
In light of this, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade took to their official Twitter account to share the news and post photos of the meeting. "Minister Saeed met with Indian High Commissioner Mahawar to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral economic ties," they announced.
Not long after, the Indian High Commission responded, expressing their eagerness to continue engaging with the Ministry for further enhancing economic cooperation between the two countries. "We look forward to continued engagements with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade," they said in their tweet.
This move by India to allow the export of essential commodities to the Maldives is a testament to their commitment to support the human-centric development in the archipelagic nation. This request was made under a unique bilateral mechanism, which has seen an increase in quotas for various items such as eggs, potatoes, onions, sugar, rice, wheat flour, and dal. In fact, the approved quantities for these items are the highest they have been since the mechanism was established in 1981.
The trade agreement between India and the Maldives, which was signed in 1981, allows for the export of essential commodities. According to records from the Indian High Commission, the bilateral trade between the two countries has seen a significant increase in recent years, crossing the USD 300 million mark for the first time in 2021 and reaching USD 500 million in 2022.
In addition, India has emerged as the second-largest trade partner for the Maldives in 2022 and the largest in 2023. Indian imports from the Maldives mainly consist of scrap metals, while exports to the Maldives include a variety of engineering and industrial products, such as drugs and pharmaceuticals, radar apparatus, rock boulders, aggregates, cement, and agricultural produce like rice, spices, fruits, vegetables, and poultry.
The recent announcement also stated that the quotas for river sand and stone aggregates, which are crucial for the booming construction industry in the Maldives, have been increased by 25 percent to 1,000,000 metric tons each. This further solidifies the strong economic partnership between India and the Maldives and shows their commitment to mutual growth and development.
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