Maldives

U.S. foreign assistance resources aim to strengthen democratic institutions, civil society, fiscal transparency, maritime security, counterterrorism, and law enforcement. Since September 2018, The U.S. has provided $36 million in  bilateral foreign assistance to Maldives.,   The U.S. has provided nearly $3 million in assistance to Maldives to support the COVID-19 crisis to date to support the expansion of social-protection services led by local civil-society organizations and assist them to advocate effectively for COVID recovery policies.  Since 2018, the U.S. has provided more than $10.8 million in Foreign Military Financing under the Bay of Bengal Initiative, in support of Maldives’ maritime security capacity.

Maldives has signed a trade and investment framework agreement with the United States and held its first meeting in October 2014, providing a forum to examine ways to enhance bilateral trade and investment. Maldives has been designated as a beneficiary country under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, under which a range of products that Maldives might seek to export would be eligible for duty-free entry to the United States. The GSP program provides an incentive for investors to produce in Maldives and export selected products duty-free to the U.S. market.

Maldives welcomes foreign investment, although the ambiguity of codified law acts as a damper to new investment. Areas of opportunity for U.S. businesses include tourism, construction, and simple export-oriented manufacturing, such as garments and electrical appliance assembly. There is a shortage of local skilled labor, and most industrial labor has to be imported from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or elsewhere.