Ambassador of Maldives to China, Mohamed Faisal has stated discussions are ongoing between the Maldivian Government and China to open a consulate in the City of Kunming in Yunnan Province. The Ambassador made the remarks while speaking on Talk Maldives TV programme aired on PSM News.
The Maldivian Ambassador to China said that relationship between China and Maldives prospered following the state visit of the President of China, Xi Jinping, in 2014. Some of the biggest infrastructure development projects that the country has ever witnessed is being undertaken with Chinese assistance, Ambassador added. Relationship between China and Maldives is at an all-time high and is based on mutual trust and understanding, according to Ambassador Faisal.
During the programme, Ambassador Faisal said that one of the major initiatives that the Maldivian Government and China are working on is the effort to open a consulate in the City of Kunming, in Yunnan Province.
"We are trying to open a consulate in the City of Kunming. This will be a mainly a commercial, economic office. We are opening it as a consulate but the main work will be commercial and economic work. Through this office, we are trying to source or link up with Chinese businesses and Chinese state owned companies. This will be the main hub from where we will be reaching out to Chinese businesses to come to Maldives. One of the issues is that Chinese are very risk averse. It takes a lot of work to convince them to come and invest,” the Ambassador said.
Ambassador Faisal noted that the Belt and Road Initiative is a connectivity project, so infrastructure connectivity, policy connectivity, logistics, information technology and also getting people to talk about how we can develop in the 21st century. He said that the main advantage for Maldives would be access to financing for infrastructure development projects. Speaking about the numerous investments coming in to Maldives via China, Ambassador Faisal revealed talks with the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to obtain funds for a solid waste management project in Maldives.
Maldives needs to do a bit more in terms of marketing in China to address the downwards trend of tourist arrivals of China, Ambassador Faisal further noted. He added that discussions are ongoing to introduce a visa waivers and introduce other categories of visa between China and Maldives.
"We have lots of opportunities, even though arrivals from China fluctuate, there are other areas that we can tap. Right now our major markets are big cities, shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong. But there are other small second-third tier cities from which we can get a huge population with lots of capital to spend. So if we can tap these cities and start new airline links between these cities and Maldives I think that will also help reinvigorate the Chinese market,” the Ambassador said.
The Ambassador also revealed that the two governments are talking on a visa waiver agreement as well.
“In China there is another category of Visa, it's a 72 hour visa that they provide for short-term transit passengers from some of the big cities in China for example, Beijing, Shanghai. We are also trying to get that facility for Maldivians. So this means that you can visit China's big cities shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and stay there for 74 hours without a visa," the Ambassador said.
During the talk show, the Maldivian Ambassador to China also highlighted activities being planned to mark the 45th anniversary since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries. Official activities to mark the occasion will kick off on October 14, which will include a reception in Beijing, along with Art Exhibitions and other programmes, according to the Ambassador.