Foreign Minister Shahid: Tax on fish import is high, need resolution

Foreign Minister Abdulla Shaahidh stated that countries that share the same ideals about the environment as the UK should match their actions and words and come to an agreement with Maldives about the sustainable import of fish.

In an interview with Morning Trade UK, during his official visit to the UK, Shaahidh said that the Maldives has exported fish worth over  USD10 million to the UK this year and it was a punishment to this small island nation by charging a 20 percent tariff on all kinds of seafood. He said that if that tax were reduced the amount of fish exported to UK will increase.

Out of all the island nations in the commonwealth, Maldives is the only one subjected to a tariff for goods exported to the UK. Other archipelagos have come to agreements with the UK to pardon taxes and the Maldives views the fact that they are charged tax as an oversight by the UK.

Shahid also said that Sustainable productivity is a very rich concept and that the Maldives is one of the few, if not only, countries that practice pole and line fishing.

Highlighting that in Maldives each fish is caught on a singular hook and one fish at a time, he said that the Maldives banned catching fish with nets in order to preserve the fragile marine ecosystem.  He also said that the sea is what sustains island nations such as the Maldives.

Furthermore, he said that countries that import fish need to match their words with their actions.

Speaking about the conservation of the sea, environment, and biodiversity, while charging 20 percent tax from a small country that is dependent on tourism and fisheries is not matching words with actions, he said.

He likened taking tax from a country that is developing and has used the foreign aid that they received in the best ways possible to punish a student for studying.

The foreign minister expressed hope that an agreement can be reached after concluding talks with Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and other ministers.

“Unlike other times I am leaving the UK with high hopes that an agreement can be reached,” he said.

When the Maldivian Ambassador to the UK questioned Kemi Badenoch, the Secretary of State for International Trade of the United Kingdom, during a conference held by the Conservative Party last October, Kemi said that with increased trade partnership, the tuna agreement can be solved with partnerships and that it need not always be a trade agreement.

She further said that in order to strengthen economic ties, there are a number of things that can be done at both political and legislative levels.

Additionally, she agreed to hold talks between officials from the two countries and to come to a solution by discussing the issues.