Hoped that Maldives will relook into its decision: Malaysia

Malaysia has said that it had hoped that the Maldives would relook into its decision to terminate its agreement with the consortium of GMR Infrastructure Limited and Malaysian Airports Berhad, on leasing Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA).

Indian paper Economic Times reports Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa Mohamad saying that “what happened in Maldives is unfortunate” and that they had hoped that “the Island nation will relook into its decision”.

“In Male’ we have enjoyed very close ties with the previous government for many years. Maldives is 100 per cent Muslim country. Of course, with the new government the lesson for us is we should be more careful, more due diligent,” Mohamad told Economic Times. “We want our investments to be protected. There was legitimate contract signed. We are disappointed,” he added.

The Malaysian International Trade Minister and his delegation are currently on a trip to India to promote trade ties between the two countries.

According to Economic Times, Mohamad said that bilateral trade between India and Malaysia is expected to reach USD 15 billion by 2015, and India's bilateral trade with Malaysia stood at nearly USD 12.54 billion last year.

The government of Maldives has repeatedly said that the Maldives’ relations with India and Malaysia will not be adversely affected due to the termination of the agreement.