India and Maldives signed a slew of agreements spread over areas of defence, trade and science on Saturday when Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a high-profile visit to the archipelago nation.
On his first foreign visit after being re-elected, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held wide-ranging talks with Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih. The two countries inked six agreements to strengthen bilateral ties in a number of key areas including defence and maritime.
PM Modi’s selection of Maldives on his first foreign visit, reflects the importance India attaches to its ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy.
The first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was for cooperation in the fields of hydrography. Another was on health.
The other agreements included on the establishment of passenger and cargo services by sea, cooperation in customs capacity building between the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs of India and the Maldives Customs Service.
An MoU was also signed between the National Centre for Good Governance, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Maldives Civil Service Commission on Training and Capacity Building Programme for Maldivian civil servants.
A technical agreement on sharing white shipping information between the Indian Navy and the Maldives National Defence Force was also signed.
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Prime Minister Modi and President Solih held warm discussions, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said.
“Mutually beneficial partnership. Warm discussions marked the meeting between PM @narendramodi & President of Maldives @ibusolih. Focus on further deepening our special relationship by expanding cooperation across sectors,” he said on Twitter.
Also, a coastal surveillance radar system and a composite training centre for the Maldives defence forces were jointly inaugurated by the two leaders.
(With agency inputs)
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