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Minister of Foreign Affairs His Excellency Abdulla Shahid and the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to the Republic of Maldives Her Excellency Wang Lixin, today witnessed the signing of key agreements on important areas such as infrastructure development and health.

The agreements were signed during the ongoing visit of His Excellency Deng Boqing, Vice Chairman of the Chinese International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) to the Maldives. The agreements that were signed today include “Memorandum of Understanding Between China International Development Cooperation Agency of the Government of the People’s Republic of China and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Maldives on Development Cooperation Plan (2023-2025)”, which will focus on promoting cooperation in such areas as health care, climate change, infrastructure, agriculture, people-to-people exchanges and disaster prevention and reduction, promote economic and social development and improve people’s lives and livelihood in the Maldives. The agreement was signed by Foreign Secretary His Excellency Ahmed Latheef on behalf of the Government of Maldives.

His Excellency Ahmed Adil, Minister of State for Health signed on behalf of the Government, the “Letters of Exchange on the Feasibility Study on Hospitals in Maldives”. His Excellency Mohamed Thoriq, Minister of State for Arts, Culture and Heritage signed on behalf of the Government, the “Letters of Exchange on Renovation of the Maldives National Museum”. His Excellency Akram Kamaaluddin, Minister of State for National Planning and Infrastructure signed on behalf of the Government, the “Letters of Exchange on the Maintenance of the China-Maldives Friendship Bridge”.

Speaking at the Signing Ceremony that was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Shahid reiterated the close relations the Maldives presently enjoys with China and thanked the Chinese Government for their kind contributions towards the socio-economic development of the Maldives. He further noted that the construction of critical infrastructure such as hospitals, will have a significant impact to the daily lives of the Maldivian people.

The Second Joint Meeting of the Tripartite Coordinating Mechanism between the Government of Maldives, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, and Chinese enterprise in the Maldives was held virtually today.

His Excellency Ahmed Khaleel, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs in his opening remarks, mentioned the importance of China as a close bilateral partner of the Maldives, and thanked the Chinese Government and the Chinese enterprises for their generous assistance and for their close cooperation with the Government of Maldives. He also thanked the Ambassador of China to the Maldives, Her Excellency Wang Lixin for her commitment to further strengthen the partnership between the two countries.

Speaking at the meeting, Amb. Wang Lixin thanked the Government of Maldives for the support that continues to be extended to Chinese enterprises here in the Maldives, and looked forward to future collaboration in a number of new areas.

During the meeting, presentations were made by both the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture, on the investment and trade opportunities in the country, focusing specifically on tourism, and maricultural investment opportunities.

The first Joint meeting of the Tripartite Coordinating Mechanism was held on 6 September 2018, which was established to strengthen coordination and cooperation to address security concerns, and to ensure the smooth and well-organized implementation of Chinese projects in the country.