{"id":17633,"date":"2026-09-02T10:55:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T05:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=17633"},"modified":"2026-09-03T11:01:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T06:01:44","slug":"halal-tourism-investment-on-the-table-as-islamic-chamber-chief-meets-president-muizzu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=17633","title":{"rendered":"Halal Tourism, Investment on the Table as Islamic Chamber Chief Meets President Muizzu"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The head of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development called on President Dr Mohamed Muizzu on Wednesday morning, with the commercial agenda pointed squarely at the Maldives&#8217; tourism industry.<\/p>\n<p>Sheikh Yousef Hassan Khalawi, the ICCD&#8217;s secretary-general, met the President at the President&#8217;s Office. Talks focused on build up the Islamic economy: capacity building, investment, and joint work in hospitality and halal business. Halal tourism, and how to expand it, featured in the discussion.<\/p>\n<p>Resorts here have long sold sun and seclusion to European and Chinese travelers, and in a country where tourism drives the economy and dollar earnings, a halal-oriented segment would target a different wallet: visitors from Gulf, Southeast Asia and the wider Muslim world, a market operators across the region have been courting for years.<\/p>\n<p>No agreements were announced. Neither side put figures, timelines or specific projects on the record: the meeting was a courtesy call, and the readout stayed at the level of intent.<\/p>\n<p>The ICCD secretary-general presented the President with a calligraphy copy of the Holy Quran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The head of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development called on President Dr Mohamed Muizzu on Wednesday morning, with the commercial agenda pointed squarely at the Maldives&#8217; tourism industry. Sheikh Yousef Hassan Khalawi, the ICCD&#8217;s secretary-general, met the President at the President&#8217;s Office. Talks focused on build up the Islamic economy: capacity building, investment,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":17635,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2981,2978,2994,2506],"tags":[3592,1301,1346],"class_list":["post-17633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-government","category-international-cooperation","category-national-news","category-top-stories-block","tag-islamic-chamber-of-commerce-and-development-iccd","tag-maldives-government","tag-maldives-president-dr-mohamed-muizzu"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Halal Tourism, Investment on the Table as Islamic Chamber Chief Meets President Muizzu - Maldives Business Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=17633\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Halal Tourism, Investment on the Table as Islamic Chamber Chief Meets President Muizzu - Maldives Business Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The head of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development called on President Dr Mohamed Muizzu on Wednesday morning, with the commercial agenda pointed squarely at the Maldives&#8217; tourism industry. Sheikh Yousef Hassan Khalawi, the ICCD&#8217;s secretary-general, met the President at the President&#8217;s Office. Talks focused on build up the Islamic economy: capacity building, investment,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/?p=17633\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maldives Business Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mvbiztimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T05:55:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-03T06:01:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/mbt.mv\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Pres-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mohamed Reehaan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mvbiztimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mvbiztimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mohamed Reehaan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/?p=17633#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/?p=17633\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mohamed Reehaan\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a0eedc1134716e7c8e4da095494670c2\"},\"headline\":\"Halal Tourism, Investment on the Table as Islamic Chamber Chief Meets President Muizzu\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-02T05:55:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-09-03T06:01:44+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/?p=17633\"},\"wordCount\":187,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/?p=17633#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/mbt.mv\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/Pres-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Development (ICCD)\",\"Maldives Government\",\"Maldives President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Government\",\"International Cooperation\",\"National News\",\"TOP STORIES - 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