The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has held the fifth meeting of the Joint Meeting Mechanism to deal with the issue of safety of Chinese Tourists in the Maldives.

The meeting was hosted at Maagiri Hotel on Friday.

The joint meeting was co-chaired by Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sheryna Abdul Samad and Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China in Maldives Wang Lixin.

The joint meeting was held to discuss the issue of safety of Chinese tourists in the Maldives, as a follow-up on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concluded between the government of Maldives and the government of China during the visit of China’s President, Xi Jinping to the Maldives back in September 2014.

Delivering her opening remarks, State Minister Sheryna shed light on the rebound of tourist arrivals from China following the repercussions of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Ministry of Tourism in its latest statistics revealed that China is the third-largest tourism market in the Maldives.

State Minister Sheryna went on to express confidence on an important change in the tourist demographics of the Maldives with the introduction of direct flights from China.

This is expected to boost the number of tourist arrivals from the country as well.

Shedding light on the commitment of the government of Maldives, the state minister added that they remain dedicated at the ministry to enhance and maintain a secure environment for all tourists, including those from China.

Further touching upon the importance of a platform dedicated to address key issues and implement effective measures, facilitating improved communication and coordination for the safety of Chinese tourists in the Maldives, the state minister recognized the positive outcomes achieved through this mechanism.

China’s Ambassador Wang Lixin expressed gratitude to the government of Maldives for its coordination and cooperation in guaranteeing a secure environment for tourists from China and reassured that the collaborative mechanism would further strengthen the joint efforts of both countries to ensure the safety of Chinese tourists visiting the archipelago nation.

Senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of China in Maldives, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Health, Maldives Immigration, Maldives Customs Service, Maldives Police Service (MPS), Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF), Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), Maldives Marketing and Public Relations Corporation (MMPRC) and other key stakeholders attended the meeting.