Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail has said that an open data policy is important for the economy and the development of the Maldives. He made the remarks while speaking at the launch of the Economic Research Platform, the first of its kind to provide access to all research prepared in the Maldives.
The platform was established in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Development and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Maldives. The platform was launched by Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam at a ceremony held at Hotel Jen.
Speaking at the ceremony, Minister Fayyaz said launching the Economic Research Platform is a very important initiative under the government's open data policy. He said there is a lot of data in government institutions but that the information is not easily available. He said the lack of easy access to data is also the biggest obstacle to making emergency decisions and taking the necessary measures. He added that all data should be made available to the private sector, academics as well as businesses.
The economic ministry and UNDP Maldives jointly initiated the Economic Research Platform in 2019.