The United States (US) has invited the Maldives for trade talks for the first time. The invitation was extended during a meeting between Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed and Brendan Lynch, the Acting Assistant US Trade Representative for South and Central Asia.
A US delegation visited the Maldives to set an agenda for upcoming Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) talks. They held a meeting with Minister Saeed and senior ministry officials along with U.S Ambassador to the Maldives Hugo Yue-Ho Yon and senior officials of TradeNet Maldives and Business Centre Corporation (BCC).
The discussions held during the meeting included the introduction of online payment systems in the Maldives, which is a presidential pledge. Minister Saeed said that the Cabinet has determined that the e-commerce platform, PayPal, is important for the establishment of a creator economy and the facilitation of content creation, adding that the US officials responded well to the request to introduce PayPal to the Maldives. The officials also invited a Maldivian delegation to visit the US for the first time to hold further discussions.
The Cabinet has decided to take steps to remove barriers to accessing funds through online payment platforms. The initiative involves the Bank of Maldives (BML) introducing an e-wallet service within and introducing PayPal.