External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will leave for a two-day visit to Male on Saturday, during which, she along with her Maldivian counterpart Dunya Maumoon will co-chair eeting of the India-Maldives Joint Commission.
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Swaraj said he would like to reiterate that “India attaches the highest importance to further developing and expanding its relationship with Maldives on basis of mutual trust and sensitivity to each other’s interest”.
India said on Sunday that the Maldives leader has committed to an “India first” policy in talks with its external affairs minister, a step that would signal improving ties between the two nations that had soured amid Maldives’ leaning closer to China.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Maldives in 2013 and obtained support from Maldives President Yameen Abdul Gayoom for his modern maritime silk road initiative seen as a way of encircling India and controlling port access along sea lanes linking the energy-rich Persian Gulf and economic centers in eastern China. She also recalled Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s message to Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen.
Following the meeting, the two sides signed MoUs on cooperation between Foreign Service Institutes of both countries and on cooperation in sports and youth affairs. Officials of both the countries were of the view that the bilateral partnership was important also for maintaining security in the Indian Ocean region, it added.
“The Indian side welcomed the ratification by Maldives of the Agreement on the Transfer of Sentenced Person”, the statement read.
The next meeting of the joint commission is scheduled to take place in 2017 in India.
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India-Maldives defence cooperation includes, inter-alia, the construction of a Composite Training Centre for the Maldivian National Defence Forces, joint patrolling, training programmes for MNDF officers in India, medical camps, joint exercises, etc, the statement said. “I think this is a very significant visit because we have revived the joint commission between India and Maldives”. The Maldivian government was left disappointed after Modi skipped the country in March during his tour of Indian Ocean region.
