India’s relations with the Maldives worsened this year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Lakshadweep and Maldivian politicians were upset. This led to a sharp drop in the number of Indian tourists visiting the Maldives. Maldives President Mohamed Muizzo came to power on the back of the ‘India Out’ campaign and sided with China. But, it seems the island nation has realised its mistake and is now willing to make peace with India.
Improvement in bilateral ties
External Affairs Minister Jaishankar completed his visit to the Maldives yesterday. During his stay in Male, Jaishankar signed several Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) focused on capacity building and inaugurated six High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs).
The MoUs exchanged included agreements for capacity building of an additional 1,000 Maldivian civil servants in India and the introduction of the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in the Maldives. The six HICDPs supported by Indian grant assistance cover areas such as mental health, special education, speech therapy and street lighting, and were jointly inaugurated.
India gets 28 islands deal
Emergency Minister Jaishankar and the External Affairs Minister jointly inaugurated India’s Line of Credit (LoC)-assisted project of water and sewerage networks in 28 islands of the Maldives in the presence of President Muizzu. While Muizzu has now allowed India to carry out development work in the 28 islands, it was his government that had earlier pulled out Indian troops and technical staff from Male.
Budgetary assistance to Maldives
The Union Budget 2024 presented on July 23 revealed a significant reduction of 48 per cent in assistance to the island nation for the 2024-25 financial year compared to the previous year. The current financial allocation includes Rs 400 crore given to Maldives as “grant”, which is significantly less than the Rs 770 crore given last year. This allocation is also Rs 200 crore less than the amount proposed in the interim budget presented in February 2024.
Muizzu lauds India
President Mohamed Muizzu appreciated India’s continued developmental assistance to Maldives and reaffirmed his commitment to further deepen India-Maldives relations. During Jaishankar’s visit, the Maldives side appreciated India’s support for the overall development of Maldives, including in the social, infrastructural and financial sectors.