U.S. Signs Open Skies Aviation Agreement With Maldives

U.S. Signs Open Skies Aviation Agreement With Maldives

The United States is pleased to announce the signing of an Open Skies air transport agreement with Maldives. U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta and Maldives Ambassador to the United States Mohamed Latheef today inaugurated aviation relations between their two countries, signing an Open Skies agreement that will permit U.S. and Maldivian airlines to operate air services between the two countries without restriction.

This agreement modernizes U.S.-Maldives aviation relations by allowing airlines to make commercial decisions with minimal government intervention. It provides for open routes, capacity, frequencies, designations, and pricing, as well as opportunities for cooperative marketing arrangements, including code-sharing. It also includes all-cargo seventh freedom rights, allowing airlines to perform international cargo operations without a connection to their homeland.

Establishing Open Skies as the basis of U.S.-Maldives aviation relations is an important step toward spurring trade, investment, tourism, and cultural exchange between the two nations. The agreement with the Maldives follows the U.S. Open Skies pact signed last month with neighboring India, as well as previous Open Skies agreements with other South Asian nations, including Sri Lanka and Pakistan. With this signing, Maldives is the 69th country with which the United States has negotiated a bilateral Open Skies agreement.

SOURCE: state.gov 2005/476 Released on May 5, 2005 Media Note Office of the Spokesman Washington, DC May 5, 2005

Location: Southern Asia, group of atolls in the Indian Ocean, south-southwest of India

Background: The Maldives was long a sultanate, first under Dutch and then under British protection. It became a republic in 1968, three years after independence. Since 1978, President Maumoon Abdul GAYOOM - currently in his sixth term in office - has dominated the islands' political scene. Following riots in the capital Male in August 2004, the president and his government have pledged to embark upon democratic reforms, including a more representative political system and expanded political freedoms. Tourism and fishing are being developed on the archipelago. SOURCE: CIA - The World Factbook