NEW DELHI (Diya TV) — India agreed to provide significant financial aid to the Maldives in an effort to mend strained diplomatic ties. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, following discussions in New Delhi in early October, made several agreements toward bolstering the economic stability and infrastructure of the Maldives.
The package of financial assistance from India will rollover $100 million in treasury bills as an urgent source of relief from the cash-strapped island nation. India and the Maldives also inked a $400 million currency swap to assist the latter tide through its present foreign exchange tangles. The country is already reeling under an increasingly acute economic crisis, with tourism being one of its primary sectors affected in recent months.
During the meetings, the leaders also virtually opened the new runway at Hanimaadhoo International Airport – a major project supported by India. Prime Minister Modi declared that the construction of the Greater Male Connectivity Project – one of the key infrastructure initiatives intended to connect vital Maldivian islands – would be speeded up. Modi stated that the Maldives is strategic to India’s “neighborhood first policy” and reassured India remains committed to supporting the Maldives in both economic and infrastructural development.
Relations between the two countries have been tense since the election of Muizzu, who is an advocate for a closer relationship with China. His administration adopted a stance that appears antithetical to his predecessor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, who had cultivated an India-centric approach. Both countries, however, have made attempts to rebalance their relationship given the dynamics of the region. The Maldives will continue being a very crucial player in the Indian Ocean, as both India and China jostle for influence.
This new cooperation is the most important to India at least in the present, simply because other regional developments now — some change in the political profile of Sri Lanka, a new regime in Bangladesh, and a new government entering the helm of Nepal — all raise new questions to India’s traditional diplomatic outreach. Through this assistance offered to the Maldives, India expects it to help that nation recover economically, thereby offsetting the increasing influence of China in the region.
