On the afternoon of September 2, Li Weidong, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of BUCG, visited Mohamed Muizzu, President of the Republic of Maldives, in Beijing, who came to China to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit and the 80th Anniversary of Commemorating the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the Global War against Fascism. The two sides had in-depth exchanges on actively implementing the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and further deepening cooperation in the field of infrastructure. The participants in the meeting include the following: Abdulla Khaleel, Minister of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives; Moosa Zameer, Minister of Ministry of Finance and Planning; Abdulla Muththalib, Minister of Ministry of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure; Ahmed Shiyam, Minister of Ministry of Fisheries and Ocean Resources; Mohammed Amin, Minister of Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation; Fazeel Najeeb, Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to China; Li Daosong, Deputy General Manager of BUCG, and key leaders of the International Business Division.
Li Weidong extended a warm welcome to Muizzu's visit to China and expressed his gratitude to Muizzu and the Maldivian government and people for their long-term concern, trust, and support for BUCG. He pointed out that this meeting was the second reunion of the two sides in Beijing, China, four months after they met with His Excellency the President in the Maldives in April this year, which fully demonstrated the high attention paid by both sides to deepening cooperation.
Li Weidong briefly introduced to Muizzu the overall strength and development achievements of BUCG as a large state-owned construction enterprise and comprehensive urban construction service provider in China. He highlighted the fruitful cooperation results achieved by BUCG since entering the Maldives market in 2014 with the support of both governments. In the past ten years, BUCG has successfully completed a number of important engineering projects, including the Velana International Airport Reconstruction and Expansion Project and the Seaplane Terminal Project. With its outstanding professional capabilities and engineering quality, it has won wide recognition and praise from all walks of life in the Maldives. In particular, he mentioned that in 2024, BUCG successfully used China's policy-based financial instruments to help the Maldives realize the financing of the first "non-sovereign guaranteed commercial loan" financing project, the Velana International Airport Old Runway Reconstruction Project. After the completion of the project, it will greatly improve the operational efficiency of the Maldives Velana International Airport and help the rapid development of the Maldives' aviation tourism industry. At present, BUCG is actively relying on its rich engineering construction experience and mature technology innovation system to steadily promote cooperation in multiple infrastructure projects in the Maldives market and continue to contribute to local economic and social development.
Muizzu expressed his sincere gratitude to BUCG for its outstanding contribution to the development of the Maldives, especially in the field of infrastructure construction. He highly praised the professional strength demonstrated by BUCG in projects such as Velana International Airport. Muizzu said that the Maldives attaches great importance to its cooperative relationship with BUCG and is full of expectations for the key cooperation projects being promoted by both sides. He hopes that BUCG will continue to give full play to its own advantages, participate more actively and deeply in the modernization process of the Maldives, deepen cooperation in airport construction, urban renewal, road traffic upgrading and other fields, jointly promote greater economic and social development in the Maldives, and promote the continuous deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Maldives to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.
