India and Maldives together have responsibility for regional peace and security: S Jaishankar

Male, Jan 18: India and Maldives are good neighbours and strong partners, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday as he underlined that the two countries also together have the responsibility for peace and security in the region.

Jaishankar, who is here on the first leg of his three-day visit to the Maldives and Sri Lanka, made the remarks after a "productive meeting" with his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid during which they discussed the full spectrum of special bilateral partnership with a focus on development cooperation, capacity building and people-to-people ties.

"We are good neighbours. We are strong partners. We have mutually invested in development and progress. But we also together have a responsibility for peace and security in the region," the minister said in a joint press appearance along with Shahid. He said the security partnership between the two countries also continues to strengthen which is the way it should be.

"Again here, India is always willing to meet the requirements and the needs of the Maldives both for itself and for the larger region," he added. "A lot of our diplomatic attention is being given to easing global tensions and ensuring the interest of countries like Maldives...many of your concerns are also our concerns," Jaishankar added.

He said the two countries shared a "very deep partnership", a partnership of close friends and maritime neighbours, which has been strengthened, particularly by the visit of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to India in August 2022, the External Affairs ministry said in a statement.

"I want to assure you, because we have just done the Voice of Global South Summit, that our intention is very much that the concerns of the smaller countries find a voice through us in the G20. I would also like to underline we deeply value our multilateral cooperation," it quoted Jaishankar as saying.

A number of significant Memorandums of Understanding were exchanged between Maldives and India in various fields, expanding the cooperation between the two countries. One of the MoUs was on additional grant assistance of 100 million Rufiyaa for the High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP) scheme.

A number of socio-economic development projects are planned to be implemented throughout the country under this funding. Others included the development of a sports complex in Gahdhoo and academic collaboration between Maldives National University and Cochin University of Science and Technology. The two ministers also witnessed the handover of two sea ambulances from India to the Ministry of Defence of Maldives.

"The agreements and MoUs that we have exchanged today again, are just reaffirmations of the very strong development partner that we have built. We have jointly reviewed our ongoing infrastructure projects, and the groundbreaking ceremony of what I think without exaggeration is one of the most anticipated projects in the North (of the country)," he said.

He said the Hanimaadhoo International airport expansion project, when completed, will actually transform the lives and livelihoods of all the people in the North of Maldives. "As the airport commences in the North, we are also privileged to be a partner, of course in another very ambitious project in the capital, the greater Male connectivity project. This is the largest project which has ever been done in this country," he added.

"We place an equal emphasis on impactful community development projects. We are already partnering on 45 such projects, 23 of which have been completed. Today we have handed over two sea ambulances to the MNDF to enable rapid deployment of health services for those in need," he said. Maldivian Foreign Minister said the two sea ambulances procured under the HICDP scheme will greatly enhance the capacity of the emergency medical services. Jaishankar also visited Noonu Mandhoo pre-school.

India will send 10,000 school books to be distributed in 260 schools in this country. He was earlier given a traditional Maldivian welcome when he arrived at Manadhoo, the capital of Noonu Atoll in the Maldives. He would also call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. Both the Maldives and Sri Lanka are India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and occupy a special place in the Prime Minister's vision of 'SAGAR' (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and 'Neighbourhood First'.