Maldives and Türkiye close to signing preferential trade agreement

Maldives and Türkiye are expected to sign a preferential trade agreement (PTA) within the next couple of months, according to Economic Minister Mohamed Saeed.

Saeed made the announcement in an appearance on the Public Service Media (PSM)’s ‘Raajje Miadhu’ program on Saturday evening.

A preferential trade area or a preferential trade agreement is a trading bloc that gives preferential access to certain products from the participating countries. This is done by reducing tariffs but not by abolishing them completely.

Saeed said the Maldivian government finalized the PTA agreement with Türkiye last Thursday.

The agreement will now be sent to the Turkish parliament, the Grand National Assembly of Türkiye, for approval, after which it will be signed by the two countries.

“We expect it to come into effect around December or January 1,” he said.

Saeed said that the PTA will cover 214 items, and that the government has requested zero tariffs on 38 items, including yellowfin tuna, skipjack tuna, dried fish and other fish products.

Saeed said that Türkiye is one of the world’s top fish processors, including the fish caught in European countries, making it a strong lobbyist.

“They are doing to significantly reduce the tariff for the rest of the products. But we also have 38 products that we will export at zero tariff,” he said.

The finalization of the PTA agreement following talks held between the two countries in April. The new Maldivian administration has fostered closer ties with Türkiye, with President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu visiting Ankara in November last year in his first official visit to a foreign country.