TBM Staff - Mumbai A senior Maldivian Minister on his maiden visit to China on Wednesday spoke of President Mohamed Muizzu’s recent visit to New Delhi and the importance of India to his country’s tourism-dependent economy.
The comments by Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed came as Male seems to have re-oriented ties with New Delhi following President Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, attending Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony earlier this month.
“President Muizzu reiterated that India remains our closest neighbour,” Saeed, who is attending the 15th World Economic Forum (WEF) at Dalian, told CNBC International TV in an interview.
“India and Maldives have a long relationship. India is one of the most important tourism destinations for us, especially in terms of inbound tourism. There are a lot of Indian investments in Maldives, especially in the tourism sector,” he said answering a question about “strained” ties between Maldives and India.
On his return to Male from New Delhi, President Muizzu described his official visit to India to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi as a “significant success” for the Maldives.
Muizzu also emphasised that the strong ties between the two nations would bring prosperity to the Maldives and Maldivian citizens, and he expressed optimism for a successful bilateral relationship in the future.
As per statistics from the Maldives Ministry of Tourism, the total number of tourists’ arrival in 2024 as on June 25 was 9,93,328. Of these, with 1,15,815 tourists, China — number 3 last year — topped the list (11.7 per cent).
It is followed by Russia at 1,02,317 (10.3 per cent), UK at 91,712 (9.2 per cent), Italy at 79,287 (8.0 per cent) and Germany at 77,155 (7.8 per cent) while India, which was at number 1 position last year, was at sixth position with only 61,770 (6.2 per cent) tourists.
