MALE, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen has said the country will receive 3.4 billion U.S. dollars worth of investment in the next five years, which will lead to a strong economic growth, his office said in a statement on Thursday.
According to the statement, when addressing the parliament on Wednesday night, Yameen also assured to restore peace and stability and make the Maldives an upper middle income nation.
"A lot of work has been carried out in the past four years in order to create business opportunities, to bring in investments and to develop small and medium business enterprises," Yameen said.
Yameen said in the next five years, 1.6 billion U.S. dollars is to be invested through the 40 foreign investments registered last year in the tourism industry, and from industries other than tourism, 50 investments have been registered, representing an investment capital of 1.8 billion U.S. dollars over the next five years.
Yameen said the Maldives had been able to secure funding for numerous national projects as it had maintained good relations with financial institutions such as the Asia Development Bank (ADB), the World Bank, the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), and the export-import banks of many countries, as well as other investment banks.
He further said his government had developed several sectors including education, fisheries, health and its "HIYA" (Shelter) project, the biggest housing project launched by the government this year. This project would be completed next year and is expected to provide housing to more than 160,000 people residing in the Maldives.
The Maldivian parliament on Tuesday approved extending the state of emergency in the island by 30 days following a request by President Abdulla Yameen.
The President's Office in a statement said the president had requested for an extension as the threat to national security had not diminished following the Supreme Court ruling on Feb. 1 ordering the release of detained opposition leaders, including self-exiled former President Mohamed Nasheed.
President Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency on Feb. 5 after the surprising Supreme Court ruling, which was, however, rescinded shortly after the declaration of the state of emergency.
