India and the Maldives sign agreements to bolster ties

Reuters: India and the Maldives on Sunday (11 October) signed two agreements on cooperation in foreign services institutes and sports and youth affairs.

The bilateral agreements were signed soon after the fifth India-Maldives joint commission meeting held in Male.

India’s Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, who is on a two-day visit to the Maldives, and her Maldivian counterpart, Dunya Maumoon, led the joint commission and discussed key issues.

Apart of the two memorandum of understanding, both the countries agreed to collaborate in number of sectors, primarily defence and security, trade, economy and development partnership, connectivity, health, energy, human resource development, culture and tourism.

Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj (L) shakes hands with Maldives’ President Abdulla Yameen (C) next to Maldives’ Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon (R) in Male, Maldives 11 October.

During the joint commission, Swaraj reportedly said that India focuses on “neighbours first”, while Maumoon assured that the Maldives would support India’s bid for a permanent seat in a reformed and expanded UN Security Council.

The Maldives-India Joint Commission was established in 1986 under the Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the two countries with the primary aim of improving bilateral relations in all spheres.

“An ocean of opportunities,” tweeted foreign ministry spokesperson, Vikas Swarup, about the joint commission meeting.

Earlier in the day, Swaraj met the President of the Maldives Abudullah Yameen.

Swaraj’s visit to the Maldives is expected to revive ties after years of cooler relations during which China asserted its influence.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi cancelled a trip to the Maldives earlier this year, after the arrest and contested trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed, the country’s first democratically-elected leader. However, Swaraj’s trip should lay the groundwork for Modi to visit the Indian Ocean nation.

India, which traditionally has strong ties with the Maldives and Sri Lanka, has been concerned about China’s growing involvement in the Indian Ocean as it opens its purse strings and builds a network of ports dubbed the String of Pearls.

In September last year, during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Maldives signed a deal with a Chinese company to upgrade its international airport, after cancelling a $511 million deal with India’s GMR Infrastructure in 2012, which strained the relationship between India and the Maldives.