The agreement will allow for the introduction of seven flights per week and was made possible following Duval’s official visit to the Republic of Maldives in January.
“This is a historical agreement which is bringing us closer to a sister island. I hope this is the first step in a collaboration between the two islands in the fields of environmental and marine management as well as island development,” said Duval.
He added this agreement will prove additionally beneficial for tourism since around 200,000 Chinese tourists visit Maldives annually. Nazim declared: “This bilateral air services agreement is very important as it strengthens the bilateral ties between our two countries, increases our connectivity and opens the door for commercial cooperation as well.”
The agreement will make Maldives only four hours’ flight time away and will open avenues for collaboration in the Tourism sector, on which the Maldivian economy is highly dependent; representing 27 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) opposed to 8 per cent of Mauritius’ GDP.