Sri Lankan government assured the Maldives that there is no restriction placed on the imports of Maldives’ fish and its product to Sri Lanka, Edition.mv reported.

The Maldives’ Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid welcomed the announcement by the Sri Lanka government on the issue as the move will greatly benefit the fishery industry of the country. 

The issue arose when a shipment of fish product from the Maldives was held up by Sri Lanka’s customs which was resolved after Foreign Minister Shahid and the country’s high commissioner to Sri Lanka discussed the matter with Sri Lankan officials. 

The country’s fishermen raised concern when in August Sri Lanka’s President Gotabaya Rajapaksa hinted at a ban on fish imports to protect Sri Lanka’s domestic industry.  
 
Following which Shahid discussed the issue with his Sri Lankan counterpart to address these concerns. On 16 October Abdullah Shahid clarified that there would be no ban on restrictions on the export of fish to the neighboring country.

For the Maldives’ export economy, the fishery is the most important trade- contributing to 70 percent of total export. After the COVID crisis, the industry suffered greatly with major exporters reporting a decline in sales.