Male’, Maldives – Several key leaders of Sri Lanka have reassured the Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid, that there is no obstacle in exporting fish from Maldives to the country.
Minister Shahid revealed this in tweet he sent out earlier on Friday night, where he said that the Foreign Minister of Sri Lanka Dinesh Gunwardena, Minister of Fisheries Douglas Devananda and State Minister of Finance Ajit Nivard Cabraal assured the Maldives that there are no restrictions in importing fish from Maldives in to Sri Lanka.
Following discussions with my good friend, Hon. FM of Sri Lanka @DCRGunawardena, Min. of Fisheries Hon. Douglas Devananda MP & Hon. State Minister of Finance @an_cabraal assures Maldives that there are no restrictions for #Maldives fish imports to Sri Lanka.
Thank you #SriLanka!— Abdulla Shahid (@abdulla_shahid) October 16, 2020
This assurance from Sri Lanka comes after word spread that the new government of the country aims to stop all import of fish products.
With this, Fisheries Minister of Maldives Zaha Waheed was questioned about the situation, to which she replied that it is not concerning that Maldives would not be able to export fish to Sri Lanka, and that the country aims for bigger markets. However, Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed refuted her statement saying that it is a policy of the government to directly export fish to the Lankan market.
Minister Zaha is yet to comment on the matter, and how this would affect the fisheries industry of Maldives.
