New Delhi, July 14 (IANS). The Indian government on Tuesday said that the first round of negotiations on the India-Maldives Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has been successfully completed. The objective of this agreement is to give new impetus to trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two countries.
India is currently the second largest trading partner of Maldives. Bilateral trade between the two countries increased to $771.76 million in the financial year 2025-26, while it was $679.70 million in the financial year 2024-25. In this way, an increase of 13.54 percent was recorded in the trade between the two countries in one year.
According to a statement from the Commerce Ministry, the negotiating teams from the two countries held detailed discussions on eight key policy areas in eight separate technical sessions. During these meetings, concrete progress was made on many important issues and both sides were successful in reaching broad consensus on many topics.
The talks from the Indian side were led by Ujjwal Kumar Ghosh, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce and chief negotiator, while the Maldives delegation was led by Chief Negotiator Yusuf Riza.
Last week, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal met Maldives’ Economic Development, Transport and Trade Minister Mohammed Saeed. During this, both the leaders reviewed the progress of various bilateral economic initiatives including India-Maldives FTA negotiations.
India and Maldives are celebrating 60 years of their diplomatic relations this year. On this occasion, both the countries reiterated their commitment to quickly finalize the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) and Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The two countries also agreed to further strengthen cooperation in sectors such as tourism, startups, digital payments, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) and trade, so as to create new economic opportunities for both the countries.
The Commerce Ministry says that the proposed FTA will ease market access between the two countries, promote investment, strengthen economic cooperation and accelerate the sustainable economic growth of both India and Maldives.
According to the ministry, both sides are working together towards a comprehensive, balanced and comprehensive trade agreement based on the principles of fairness and mutual benefit.
–IANS
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