India’s relations with Maldives rest on the twin important pillars of ‘mutual interests’ and ‘reciprocal sensitivity’, said External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday. The remarks came during his interaction with the visiting Foreign Minister of Maldives, Moosa Zameer, when South Block also confirmed that “competent Indian technical personnel” have reached Maldives to look after the aviation platforms that India maintained in the archipelago nation for humanitarian purposes.
“The world is today passing through a volatile and uncertain period. In such times, as we saw during COVID, natural disasters and economic difficulties, close partnerships with neighbours are of great value…It is in our common interest that we reach an understanding on how best we take our relationship forward,” said Mr. Jaishankar in his speech during the meeting with the visiting Maldivian Minister. Mr. Zameer said, “We reflected on our long history of bilateral partnership shared by mutual respect and understanding,” and added that issues from the bilateral as well as international domains featured in the talks. Mr. Zameer is the first high-level official from Maldives to visit India since President Mohamed Muizzu took charge in September 2023.
Officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the two sides also discussed “regional security issues”, development partnership, ongoing capacity building and training initiative. “India has been a First Responder on numerous occasions for Maldives,” said Mr. Jaishankar during the meeting.
