This Department is mandated to deal with matters relating to trade facilitation and international trade policy. The Department has both an international and a domestic dimension to its mandate. These include amongst other things, ensuring that the rights and obligations of Maldives on matters relating to trade, investments and labour through multi-lateral, regional and bilateral arrangements are translated to the domestic trading environment through appropriate legislative and administrative frameworks and that these opportunities are made aware to the domestic market. In addition, this Department is mandated to uphold fair trading practices including protection of Intellectual Property Rights, upholding of appropriate standards and calibration in the domestic trading environment and protection of consumer rights. Further, the Department has the mandate to promote and market Maldives as an investment destination and provide timely advice to foreign investors on the regulatory and operational environment of the Maldives as an investment destination.
The Department consists of three sections and 8 units, namely: