The newly appointed President of the Maldives, Dr Mohamed Waheed, who was in India recently to meet not only the top political leadership including the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, but also captains of industry. Dr Waheed took time off from his hectic schedule to speak to Business Line on trade and investment relations between the two countries.

Excerpts from the interview:

Investors are generally wary of investing in a country which has seen political turmoil. Has the Maldives been affected as a result of the recent political turmoil there?

I have no reason to believe that there is loss of confidence. In fact investors are more comfortable now because there is stability and there are assurances that the shocks that impact the political system in the Maldives do not really affect economic activities that much.

Our biggest industry is tourism followed by fisheries and these sectors have not been seriously affected. There is a high level of resilience in our economy. That should make people more comfortable. The exchange rate has actually improved a little bit vis-à-vis the dollar and I think this is also a sign of confidence.

What kind of investment is the Maldives interested in seeking from India?

There are two areas in particular where we are trying to promote Indian investment. One is tourism as not nearly enough Indian tourists are coming to the Maldives and that is a matter of concern for us. I am sure it is also a matter of concern for India, particularly when you realise that there are so many Chinese tourists who are coming to the Maldives now.

I think tourism is beneficial for both countries so we should promote it. We should try to get direct flights organised. We are looking at Indians investing in tourism and also Indian tourists coming to the Maldives.

The other area we are interested in is information technology. We will be meeting some companies – one here in Delhi and then we will be talking to Reliance, the Mukesh Ambani group.

What kind of investment is the Maldives looking at in IT?

I have to talk with them (Reliance Group) and see what they are interested in. We just had some contact that helped us arrange an appointment with them. This is our first contact with them. We can also discuss giving ownership of an island for an IT park because in the tourism sector we are able to rent out islands for up to 50 years. We are looking for a similar kind of arrangement in the IT sector also but with the proviso that this is a project that promotes employment among our youth.

Do you have any particular projects in mind that Indian companies can pick up?

We are open to good ideas. I am not an expert in this area but I think what we could offer is an exclusive island environment for an IT park. My primary interest is generating employment for young people. We have a very literate population where we have almost 100 per cent literacy and almost all of our children are graduating from high school and we have universal secondary education with Cambridge O level passes and they do not have jobs.

We will also meet with the Tata group because it is already involved in housing projects in the Maldives. We want these projects to proceed quickly.

There was also some talk about the Maldives being interested in getting Indian investment in an airport in north Maldives?

We have a regional airport in the north in Hanimadhoo that GMR was interested in before it won the contract for the main international airport. This regional airport is very close to India. It is probably a little over an hour from Bangalore. There are many beautiful islands close to this airport where we could develop tourism and possibly duty free shopping and this could be a major attraction for Indian tourists.

During the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh's visit to the Maldives a line of credit was announced. How has that moved till now?

That is moving. It is very helpful. In times of need that has been an extremely useful source of support for the Maldives. We have already benefitted from this. We are hoping that this will continue to be beneficial for us.

What is the status of the proposed shipping service from India to the Maldives?

This is a special project under SAARC. We are still waiting for commercial interests in this project. When we have interested takers then we can go ahead.

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