The free trade agreement signed with China in 2017 does not exist, says Speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed.

Nasheed said this during Wednesday’s parliament sitting, where Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer was questioned on why Maldivian fishermen are not benefiting from this agreement.

Responding to this, the finance minister said that he was not aware of any operative free trade agreements.

Ameer stressed that that while an FTA was signed, that it will only come into effect after the required legislations. He added that this “is the parliament’s responsibility”.

Following this, the speaker said that “there is no free trade agreement between Maldives and China”.

Citing Article 165 of the agreement, Nasheed said that it requires the parliament to adopt the required legislations within 30 days after the agreement is signed.

He said that while these are to be shared between officials of both nations, the former president said that “the agreement becomes official only after these information are shared”. He noted that the 18th parliament had failed to complete the procedure.

Nasheed has been the biggest critic of the free trade agreement signed by the previous administration, and has previously said that the incumbent administration is considering pulling out of the agreement after calling it “very one-sided”.