Economic Minister, Fayyaz Ismail has said that with the help of technology, the Maldives can reduce how much it depends on other countries.

Minister Fayyaz made the statement at the inauguration of the SME Innovation Fund held at Hotel Jen last night.

The Minister of Economic Development said that the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector has been greatly neglected by the country. However, it can be developed to take advantage of technology to grow the economy and reduce the dependency on other countries.

He said that one of the major challenges to the Maldivian economy is a low employment in the youth and fewer local workers.

The SME Innovation Fund inaugurated last night focuses on the youth to develop new technologies in various fields. MVR 20 million is set to be given as loan from the fund.