Businesses from any country, including the Maldives, are provided with assistance to invest in the UK or take part in joint ventures with UK companies either by UK Trade and Investment or the English Regional Development Agencies or Devolved Administrations. Full details of these services are available publicly on UKTI’s website and the websites of the DAs and RDAs.
There are no specific funds for either investment or trade with any one market.
The information is as follows.
(i) Overseas Trade Statistics data for UK trade in goods with the Maldives are shown in the following table.
UK imports of goods from the Maldives UK exports of goods to the Maldives 1999 5.5 4.9 2000 6.8 5.1 2001 6.4 5.0 2002 7.2 3.0 2003 6.8 5.9 2004 10.5 7.7 2005 11.7 8.9 2006 14.3 6.2 2007 15.6 7.1 2008 13.0 8.5
(ii) Data on trade in services are not available for the full 10 years requested. Table 9.13 of the UK Balance of Payments “Pink Book 2009” gives the following figures for UK trade in services with the Maldives
UK imports of services from the Maldives UK exports of services to the Maldives 2007 121 12 2008 127 9
The UK trade and investment team in Colombo which is responsible for trade and investment relations with the Maldives has undertaken a scoping mission to the Maldives and maintains regular contact with the Maldivian Ministry of Commerce. This scoping mission cost approximately £300. No other expenditure has been incurred in the last 12 months.
In the coming 12 months UKTI has arranged for the Maldivian high commissioner in London to give a presentation on opportunities in the market to its regional trade advisers.
UK Trade and Investment (UKTI) does not deliver official services in the Maldives, but lobbying on behalf of British companies may be carried out on a case by case basis by the high commission in Colombo. It is not therefore possible to give a precise breakdown of staff time spent on trade promotion in the Maldives.
Due to the difficulty of differentiating between the impact of trade and other factors on growth, it is not possible to quantify precisely the impact of trade with another country on GDP. The value of UK exports of goods and services to the Maldives in each of 2007 and 2008 corresponded to about 0.001 per cent. of the value of UK GDP, and UK imports from the Maldives to about 0.01 per cent.
No formal discussions regarding increased bilateral trade have taken place. However my officials are in regular contact with the Maldives high commission and the UK trade and investment team in Colombo maintains regular contact with the Maldives Ministry of Commerce.