The governments of Maldives and India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the exchange of pre-arrival information for trade facilitation and control of customs over goods.
With an aim to boost institutional links between customs departments and support trade facilitation for businesses in both countries, the “Exchange of Pre-Arrival Information for Facilitation of Trade and Customs Control on Goods” MoU was signed on behalf of the Maldivian government by the Commissioner General of Customs at the Maldives Customs Service, Abdulla Shareef, whereas Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) in India, M. Ajit Kumar signed on behalf of the neighboring country.
The MoU signed to facilitate faster clearance of goods and enhance customs control will provide a framework for exchange of pre-arrival cargo data contained in customs documents submitted during export. This will reduce the time period for customs procedures and improve forms and methods of customs control on goods.
Customs went on to reveal that the overall productivity of customs administrations will also be improved with cooperation in exchange of information, on both sides. It is also expected to provide significant benefits in terms of better facilitation of trade, security of the supply chain and revenue collection.
It said that trade and commercial ties have been taken to new heights due to the excellent health of the bilateral ties between Maldives and India under the leaderships of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
In recent months, a number of measures were implemented to boost bilateral trade between both countries.
This included the inauguration of the direct cargo vessel service between Maldives and India in September 2020, which has significantly improved the bilateral trade partnership between both countries. Customs revealed that this had enabled India to become the second largest trade partner for Maldives, last year.
This is deemed a great progress, as India was ranked in the fifth spot in 2019.
With a steep rise in Maldivian exports to India between January to June this year, Maldives has “greatly” benefitted from the upsurge in trade ties.
Recently, the neighboring country renewed and increased quotas to provide nine essential commodities to the Maldives upon a request from the Solih administration. The mechanism has been ongoing since inception in 1981, in a bid to boost food security and ensure the continuation of construction materials’ supply into the island nation. Customs revealed that the approved quantities have been the highest since 1981, with an increase of 15 percent in quotas for essentials.
Maldives has celebrated India as a traditional partner in human resource development across multiple sectors, for decades. The cooperation between both neighbors was enhanced to customs and trade under an MoU titled “Cooperation in Customs Capacity Building” which was signed during PM Modi’s state visit back in 2019.
Maldives Customs Service launched training programmes in India earlier in 2020 and two batches of officials from Maldives Customs Service had undergo the training programme before the Covid-19 pandemic surfaced. Since then, online training courses have been launched since November last year, in which Maldivian customs officials have been participating.
