Indian, Maldivian foreign ministers hold bilateral talks in New Delhi

Reuters: Maldivian Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon met her Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Saturday (21 November) and held bilateral talks.

The two leaders are believed to have discussed the political situation in the island nation, days after President Abdulla Yameen imposed a 30-day emergency in the country.

Maumoon is on a two-day visit to India. Her visit comes over a month after Swaraj visited Male to attend the Fifth Maldives-India Joint Commission.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had 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.

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.

The Maldives, a small but strategic archipelago in one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.