Minister of Economic Development, Mohamed Saeed has revealed that the hopes are high for US assistance for Maldivian Economy and Trade.
Speaking to Miadhu Daily, the Minister said that although Maldives and US signed the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) on 2009 no meetings were held so far.
However, he said that Michael Delaney, Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for South Asia, and him launched the first meeting of the Joint Council of the Maldives-U.S. TIFA on 20th of this month.
“Mainly three issues were discussed. The first is regarding increasing the fish products exported to US. Now were exporting fish worth of110 to 120 million dollars every year. So we need the assistance of the US government to increase this within 4 months,” he said.
According to Asian Tribute the team of delegates from the US comes from multiple U.S. government agencies and has been looking forward to returning to the Maldives to learn more about both the trade and investment conditions and the labor environment.
Asian Tribute further revealed that TIFA Councils normally meet at least once a year at senior levels of government. TIFAs serve as a forum for the United States and other governments to meet and discuss issues of mutual interest to improve cooperation and enhance opportunities for trade and investment. The United States and its TIFA partners consult on a wide range of issues including market access issues, labor, the environment, protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights, and – in appropriate cases – capacity building.
The United States has TIFAs with countries at many different levels of development and trade and investment interests, with almost 50 TIFAs in every region of the world.