India-Maldives row: President Mohamed Muizzu holds talks with China's Xi Jinping in Beijing
ALSO READ: India-Maldives row: ‘China one of our best allies’, Maldives President Muizzu urges Beijing to send more tourists He reached Beijing last night after staying in the Chinese city of Fujian for two days. In an address to the Maldives Business Forum in Fujian Province on Tuesday, Muizzu appealed to China to "intensify" efforts to send more tourists to his country.
"China was our (Maldives') number one market (for tourism) pre-Covid, and it is my request that we intensify efforts for China to regain this position," he said. Muizzu in his speech praised the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) projects launched by Xi Jinping in 2014, saying that they “delivered the most significant infrastructure projects witnessed in Maldivian history".
Meanwhile, Maldivian media reported that the two countries have signed a USD 50 million project to develop an integrated tourism zone on the Indian Ocean island, PTI reported. China's bilateral trade in 2022 totalled $451.29 million of which China’s exports constituted $451.29 million against $60,000 of exports from the Maldives.
Muizzu also sought investments from Chinese companies for 11 projects at the Maldives Investment Forum. According to data released by the Maldives Tourism Ministry earlier, India has remained the largest tourist market for the country in 2023.
The highest number of visitors to the Maldives were from India, with 209,198 arrivals, followed by Russia in second place with 209,146 arrivals, and China in third place with 187,118 arrivals. Muizzu also said that China remains "one of our closest allies and development partners." With agency inputs.Milestone Alert!
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