Working on amending Foreign Investment Law through legislation: Maldives

Q&A with Ibrahim Muaz Ali, Maldivian President Abdullah Yameen's official spokesperson

During mid-November 2013, the people of Maldives finally voted Abdullah Yameen to be their 6th President.

During the past two years, the relations between Maldives and India was on a sticky wicket for a host of reasons including the much publicised cancellation of a $510 million airport contract to India's GMR Infrastructure by the earlier government.

Within weeks of taking office, President Yameen, who is half-brother of ex-President Gayoom, has swung into action to mend lots of issues between the two countries.

n one of the first interviews with an Indian newspaper, President Abdullah Yameen's official spokesperson Ibrahim Muaz Ali told Raghuvir Badrinath of Business Standard that the Maldivian Government is working on a host of aspects to advance ties with India. Excerpts:

After a much protracted saga of Presidential elections which is now over, Maldives has a democratically elected Government at the helm of its affairs. Given that your Government is now at the centre of power in the Maldives, what steps will your office take to set right several thorny issues between India and Maldives and jointly move forward?

Maldives is not just an "old friend’’ of India, but a "good friend’’ as the High Commissioner Shahare said. The new president Abdulla Yameen has assured a firm commitment to advance ties with India in all areas of development.

The government of Maldives and the Indian government have already discussed several issues of mutual interest, including the joint talks on easing consular and visa restrictions for the benefit of travellers between the two countries, healthcare, defense cooperation, human resource development and bilateral high-level ties.

India and Maldives have historically been close allies but offlate the relation has taken a beating due to various factors, primarily among these is the hostility to a number of Indian investments and India’s business interests in the Maldives? How does the new government intend to set the relations straight?

President Yameen pledged during his presidential campaign, that he would make the Maldives as the “investors’ TRUSTED islands’’. This includes the Indian and other foreign investments which are already established in the country. It’s a higher priority of the government to further strengthen the trust for foreign investors by doing amendments to the ‘foreign investment law’ through the legislation.

While the unilateral decision to cancel GMR’s contract for Male’ airport development is the prime example in this context, a number of other Indian business interests has taken a hit. What do you feel about this situation and what steps will the new government take to address these aspects?

The new government believes that the cancelation of GMR agreement by the previous government will not affect the relation between the Indian government and the new government of Maldives.

While GMR is currently in the middle of an international arbitration with Government of Maldives and has already slapped a $1.4 billion claim against the country (equal to nearly 70% of country’s annual GDP), how do you plan to resolve the Male airport dispute as well as the problems with other Indian business interests?

A government will not focus ONLY on a single company’s interest. The government of Maldives believes that there should be equal opportunities for individuals, business authorities etc to fight for their rights and the government fully respects international laws, treaties etc.