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.