Resetting of Ties with Maldives

Minister of External Affairs Smt. Sushma Swaraj had visited Maldives in a sign of resetting of ties.

The visit to the Island nation comes after the formation of the new government in Maldives which has openly reaffirmed its commitment to India First Policy.
On its part, India reiterated its neighborhood first policy.
At the visit, three agreements were signed by the countries which is being seen as first full-fledged bilateral engagement between the countries.
The three agreements include: 1). Agreement on visa exemption for diplomats. 2). MoU on renewable energy projects. 3). MoU on thousand additional slots for Maldivian students for various courses in India.

During the visit, the Minister had inaugurated the renovated Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital.
The Maldivian government offered new land for Indian Embassy.
Prior to the MEA’s visit, the President of Maldives made his first official visit to India signalling resetting of ties.
During that visit, Prime Minister of India had announced $1.4 billion grants for Maldives.

Maldives under the Presidentship of Abdullah Yameen, in cahoots with China, had cut-off ties with India.
Many development projects of India in the country had been cancelled.
China was given priority in developmental projects.
This has been viewed by many experts as part of China’s ‘String of Pearls’ strategy.
With India’s support, the Maldivian opposition came to power and formed a democratic government.

It is an unofficial geopolitical strategy of China to curtail the progress of India.
As part of the strategy, China will establish strategic ties with the neighbouring countries of India and establish naval bases in them.
The strategy has both military and commercial aspects to it.
Glimpses of the strategy can be seen in the way China established the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), establishment of a military base in Djibouti, previous involvement in the politics of Maldives and Sri Lanka etc.

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India on its part is taking numerous measures to counter the Chinese Strategy.
To reestablish its ties with the neighbouring Indian Ocean countries, the government has launched Project Mausam to revive cultural ties with those countries through which the old monsoon sea routes fall.
The country constantly conducts military and naval exercises with major Indian Ocean littoral countries.
In economic arena, India’s commercial interests generally follows the economic interests of the host nations and creates a win-win situation.
Unlike China, the loans provided by India are soft loans with low interests.
Also, India’s strong ties with major countries like France, USA and Australia are thwarting any misadventure of China in the region.

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Since independence from the British, the ties between the two countries have been cordial barring particular times when the local political leaders fell into the influence of China and Pakistan.
For India, ties with Maldives is of strategic significance in the Indian Ocean.

It is why India will continue its goodwill with Maldives in the future too.