In a big diplomatic triumph for India, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar along with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer inaugurated India's Line of Credit (LoC)-assisted project of water and sewerage network in 28 islands of Maldives, during the former's visit to the country. Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu was also present at the inauguration event. This comes after the ties of the two countries hit a new low earlier this year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Lakshadweep, following which a Maldivian leader used 'derogatory' words against him, leading to the conflicts between the two neighbouring countries.
In addition, Mohamed Muizzu took over as the President of the Maldives riding on the 'India out' campaign and carrying a pro-China stance. However, President Muizzu on Monday, i.e.
, August 12, reaffirmed his committment to strengthening the ties with India. While emphasising that India has always been one of the closest allies and invaluable partners, facilitating and providing aid whenever the Maldives needed it, the President extended deep gratitute to Prime Minister Modi and the people of India for their consistent assistance to the country. India-Maldives sign several MoUs focussed on capacity building and more: India and Maldives, in an effort towards improving the bilateral ties, signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) focused on capacity building.
EAM Jaishankar also signed an MoU with Maldives focused on agreements for the capacity building of 1,000 Maldivian civil servants in India as well as the introduction of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in Maldives. Moreover, EAM S Jaishankar also inaugurated six High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs). Reasons behind the Maldivian President's sudden recalibration: According to several political analysts, after the India-Maldives bilateral ties witnessed a breach this year, the island nation had to go through a rough phase on the economic and diplomatic grounds, provided India has extended continued assistance to the island country.
The opposition parties in Maldives have always pressed for close relations with India, standing against Muizzu's pro-China stance. They have also welcomed the change in the President's 'attitude' towards India. Moreover, the newly inaugurated project that is India's LoC-assisted project of water and sewerage network in 28 islands of Maldives, provides for a large portion of drinking water in the latter country, benefitting its citizen.
Mohamed Muizzu lauds India's assistance: During the S Jaishankar's visit to Maldives, President Mohamed Muizzu was addressing a ceremony held at President's Office. Not only did he express gratitute to India for its assistance, he asserted that Maldivians value the deep and historic ties with the Indian people and are committed to its preservation and enhancement. President Muizzu expressed optimism and said that he anticipates seeing Maldives-India cooperation prosper and develop in the coming years.
The President further thanked EAM Jaishankar for his endeavours to strengthen India-Maldives ties..
