By Elishya Perera
               MALE, Maldives (CWBN)_Economic Minister Fayyaz Ismail made the comment pertaining to foreign policy while participating in a radio show conducted on state media, last Saturday (10th October). Pointing out that no country can survive on its own, the minister claimed that the outstanding feature of the Maldives’ foreign policy is its ready cooperation with everyone within the international community, while paying special attention to neighboring countries.
An India First Policy
This discussion with the Economic Minister took place following a question submitted by a listener, on Maldives’ foreign policy that disproportionately favors one single bilateral partner. In response, Fayyaz said, “We have adopted the India First Policy. Because it cannot be denied India is a powerful country in the region. A country we share centuries of historical relations with”. The minister went on to say that the Indian military is so powerful that it would have already captured Maldives if it wished to do so.
However, India- Maldives ties have been strengthened ever since Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was elected president in 2018. For instance, a Dornier aircraft was recently gifted by India to Maldives, four-years after the agreement was signed during the former president’s administration, and Indian military personnel are currently stationed in Maldives for the operation and maintenance of the aircraft.
When questioned about Indian forces stationed in the country, the Defence Ministry refused to disclose information, claiming that such matters can be classified from public inquiries based on the potential consequences affecting bilateral relations. Subsequently, when the matter was brought up in parliament, the Speaker Mohamed Nasheed rejected a motion proposed by a senior opposition figure, to disclose details of the agreements between Maldives and India.
FTA with China to be reviewed
Meanwhile, Fayyaz also stated that the Free Trade Agreement with China which was signed during the previous administration cannot be implemented under its initial terms. The agreement was signed in December 2017, during Maldives’ first state visit to China. “Personally, I would not carry forward with the agreement as the Economic Minister. However, it cannot be said that amending the aspects of free trade in the agreement is not a possibility,” the minister stated.
Even though the agreement was signed with the approval of the parliament during which Fayyaz served as a parliamentarian, he pointed out that he had opposed the agreement even back then, and that only an hour was allocated to review the approximately 1000-page document of the Agreement, before it received the approval of the parliament.Â
While admitting that the Agreement would generate certain advantages for Maldives, such as the ability to import goods from China with no duty charged on it, he also observed that this would result in a decrease in imports from other foreign markets, thereby disrupting the trade relationship with other countries. This would result in Maldives being too dependent on a single country.
“This means that we have nothing to fall back on. The relationship with Singapore will be gone, the relationship with Dubai will be gone as well as the relationship with India, which will also be gone,” said Minister Fayyaz. He is of the view that the agreement should not have been signed in the first place and said it was detrimental to the country’s economy.
Edited by Chathushka Perera
