The state-owned airport operator denied the imminent 25-year lease of the Velana International Airport's new CIP terminal and jet services to Jetex, but confirmed media reports about considering a proposed revenue sharing deal with a US$ 25 million investment from the Dubai company. "We are not going to do it," MACL managing director Ibrahim Shareef told Mihaaru.
The economic minister denied former president Yameen's allegations about planning to lease the Hanimaadhoo International Airport to India's Adani Group. A secret meeting did not take place in Singapore as alleged, said Saeed, who met with India's Commerce Secretary on Friday to "review and advance ongoing initiatives focused on strengthening trade and investment relations between India and the Maldives."
China's Weihai QZ Blusea Foods and the Jingweidao brand team produced a sample batch of canned tuna from duty-free Maldives fish exported under the FTA with China. But critics decried exporting raw fish instead of developing domestic value added production as a loss to the Maldives.
Fuvahmulah was featured in Netflix's "All The Sharks" reality photography competition TV series. The first episode showed divers search for the Pelagic thresher in the island's famous tiger shark point.
The tourism ministry cancelled a bid announcement to develop a resort in Haa Alif Kelaa after land reclamation in the island's lagoon. The two lagoon plots were subsequently added to a list of islands and lagoons announced on June 29 with rent deferrals, duty exemptions and acquisition costs lowered by up to 70 percent. The special concessions to incentivise investment were offered under a government policy to "expand tourism in atolls where the sector remains under-developed," the ministry said.