Maldivian Foreign Ministry and the Diplomatic Missions abroad has held three webinars in the past month to promote Maldivian tourism and investment opportunities in the country.

Foreign Ministry said that the first webinar was hosted on 16 June by the Maldivian Embassy in Brussels, Belgium. The webinar entitled “Investment in the Maldives”, facilitated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology, Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture as well as the Ministry of Economic Development and Maldives Fund Management Corporation.

With participation close to 90 economic sector specialists and potential investors based in EU Countries, the webinar provided an important platform to accelerate commercial diplomacy of the Maldives with the Kingdom of Belgium, Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. The webinar also supports the government’s continued initiatives to strengthen trade and investment, provide information to foreign investors, and facilitate networking between relevant government agencies and foreign investors, according to the Foreign Ministry.

Two more webinars were held to promote the Maldivian tourism and the work by the country to resume to the previous normalcy after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Embassy of Maldives in Tokyo hosted an "Exclusive Webinar on Maldives Tourism in Post-Covid Recovery" on 22 June in coordination with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Tourism, Maldives Marketing & PR Corporation, Guest House Association of Maldives.

At the webinar in Tokyo, Maldivian government agencies provided an overview of efforts underway to recover rebuild and restore tourism sector post-pandemic. With participation of 23 major Japanese Travel Agents and Tour Operators, which covers 80% of the Japanese Market for Maldives tourism, the webinar provided an important forum to prepare for the anticipated increase of tourist arrivals from Japan in the coming months. The webinar also supports the government’s continued initiatives to strengthen tourism sector and provided information to travel agents about existing guidelines and practices for international tourists in the Maldives.

The High Commission of Maldives in Singapore, in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives and National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) organized a webinar on 23 June reiterating Maldives’s preparedness and readiness to welcome Singaporean tourists, as Singapore prepares to re-open its borders for the Maldives.

The webinar also provided an important platform to brief the Singapore’s tourism industry on the new guidelines and safety protocols in place for international tourists arriving into the Maldives. Discussion also ensued on how to collaborate with tourism stakeholders in Maldives and build a closer relationship with Singapore’s travel trade partners.

High Commissioner of Maldives to Singapore, Ibrahim Shaheeb, spoke at the webinar reiterating that Singapore is an important contributor with huge potential for Maldives economic recovery, and noted that increasing tourist arrivals has been a key priority of the government since the setback from the COVID 19.

Due to the COVID-19 situation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been reoriented to acquire aid, trade and investment opportunities while promoting Maldivian tourism across the work by working with the relevant local and international institutions.