Speaking at the EU Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum in Brussels, Belgium, Minister Zameer highlighted challenges faced by small island nations and called on EU to eliminate the disproportionate taxes-imposed on Maldives fish products to assist Maldives in its efforts to diversify its economy by creating equal opportunities for trade and investment.
This has been the case, with Maldives graduating as a middle-income country in 2013, to which, EU countries, including the UK, imposed a 24 percent duty fee. As a result, the previous governments have also discussed reducing the taxes levied on fisheries exports due to the increase in the price of fish exported from Maldives to Europe. In December last year, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had also indicated a positive outcome from the discussions held to reduce taxes.
Source: The Edition