On July 3 (local time), the Forum on China-Maldives Tourism and Economic and Trade Cooperation “Achievements and Outlook” jointly established by China and Maldives on “the Belt and Road” jointly held by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China, the Ministry of Tourism of Maldives and Chinese Embassy in Maldives was held in Maldives. Over 200 persons including the leaders of the government department of both parties, industry representatives engaged in tourism, aviation, economy, finance and so on, the representatives of Chinese-invested enterprises in Maldives, and the representatives of the Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, and Maldives media attended the forum.

Party Secretary of BUCG International Wang Li and the Project Department of Maldives Airport Economic Zone were invited to attend it on behalf of BUCG, which expanded BUCG’s influence on Maldives, and laid a foundation for establishing good relations, having a deeper understanding of local market, and promoting projects in the aviation economic zone.

Chinese ambassador in Maldives Zhang Lizhong delivered an opening speech, looked back long-standing friendship between China and Maldives as well as the development situation for win-win cooperation brought by the proposal “the Belt and Road” to China and Maldives, and mentioned the influence of the reconstruction and expansion project of Velana International Airport locally.

Minister of the Ministry of Tourism of Maldives Moussa Zamir, Party member of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of China Du Jiang made a speech respectively, focused on the joint establishment of Maritime Silk Road and the cooperative opportunities between China and Maldives, and showed confidence in development of “joint discussion, co-construction, sharing” in China and Maldives. Director of China Tourism Academy Institute for International Tourism Development Jiang Yiyi, Director of the Division of Planning of the Department of International Relations of Maldives Ali Slam made a keynote speech respectively, shared successful experience in tourism development and tourism cooperation of both countries, and explored development opportunities for tourism cooperation in both countries.

In the group discussion, President of Shenzhen Overseas International Travel Agency Co., Ltd. presented the restrictions of current airport on the development of the tourism industry in Maldives. The host said, after the reconstruction and expansion project of Velana Airport undertaken by BUCG is completed, transport capacity will be greatly improved, which will offer aid for national development of Maldives. In addition, Secretary Wang was invited to give an introduction. Secretary Wang’s speech aroused exclamation and applause of the guests to express gratitude. He said, the airport will be subject to calibration flight in August this year, and will be completed in November of the next year. At that time, the transport capacity of the airport will be increased to the transport of seven million from the transport of two million people, which will greatly promote the development of local tourism industry. BUCG tries to speed up construction according to the requirements of both parties, and undertake to complete the task.

In the discussion on the topic “tourism investment opportunity”, based on the strength of BUCG as well as the reconstruction and expansion project of Maldives Airport, Secretary Wang talked about great increase brought by airport construction to “cash flow, stream of people, logistics, information flow”, gave an introduction to the conception about the construction of the airport economic zone and the significance in the development of the tourism industry in Maldives, and said that BUCG will make collaborative cooperation in various sections, give full play to the advantages of industrial chains, and build the airport economic zone project into a window for demonstration of “the Belt and Road” on the Indian Ocean as well as a landmark building in Maldives, and make contributions to sustainable development in Maldives.

With the practice and in-depth promotion of the proposal “the Belt and Road”, China has been in increasingly close economic and trade cooperation with countries along the Belt and Road. The signing of the free trade agreement between China and Maldives has established many cooperation opportunities in the future for both parties in the fields including infrastructure, economy, trade, investment and so on. Based on mutual benefits and the win-win situation, with airport construction as the dependence, BUCG has enjoyed steady development and extensive prospects in multiple fields involved with cooperation between China and Maldives.

With a total building area of 102,000m², located at the central seaward core location to the west side of Hulhumale, the airport economic zone project consists of four centers (Airport aviation enterprise service center, international trade center, conference & convention and exchange center and business shopping center), one supporting facility (for business tourism), one hub (transportation hub). After it is completed, it will become the most representative landmark building cluster in Maldives, and greatly improve the national image of Maldives.

In compliance with the demand of the industrial structure on long-term development in Maldives, The construction of the airport economic zone complies with will be beneficial to longitudinal development of the tourism industry in Maldives, play a significant driving role in the conference & convention industry, the IT technology industry, commodity transaction and so on, facilitate the strategic development of regional integration proposed by Maldives government, promote industrial transformation and upgrade, provide a great number of employment posts, bring huge economic and social benefits locally, greatly improve the implementation effect of the “Greater Male” strategy proposed by Maldives government, and become an important link to promote the upgrade of business types in national economy of Maldives.