Opposition Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) has expressed concern over the Free Trade Agreement signed between Maldives and China.

A statement released by the Party on Thursday stated they were ‘concerned over sudden and rushed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China’, noting there was virtually no ‘disclosure of details to the public or to the MPs.’

The statement noted the FTA was fast tracked through Parliament in an emergency sitting.

‘The Agreement was sent to the Parliamentary oversight committee on national security affairs within 3 minutes of submission to the floor. The Committee vetting the Agreement took less than 10 minutes,’ the statement read.

Further noting that the Committee session was conducted against Parliamentary procedures and norms, the Party said the deliberations were closed off to public and media.

‘Despite requests, the MPs were not given access to the document in order to review it before passing. The Government allowed for less than 1 hour for the entire Parliamentary process to approve the 1000+ page document. The Agreement contained a number of technical details that should have been thoroughly reviewed, and required consultation with the business community. The Agreement was approved with just 30 votes, in another late evening session of the Parliament,’ it read.

MDP added the Constitution required 43 MPs present to vote on the motion and as such, with only 30 MPs voting for the motion.

MDP raised further concerns over the implications this FTA will have on national deficit. This, the Party said, is a ‘further entrenchment of the country into a Chinese debt trap will result in additional stress on strategic national assets and increasing instability in the Indian Ocean region.’

The FTA comes in the background of corruption allegations and disastrous economic policies of the present administration, the statement added.

‘Given the drastic increase in foreign trade debt to China this Agreement is likely to bring, the MDP is concerned the FTA is a short-sighted, political agreement between the two countries,’ it said.

The statement concluded by calling on the Government to suspend the implementation and conduct a feasibility study. It also said the agreement must be in the best interests of Maldives, both economically and geo-politically.