Blueprint signals thaw in India-Maldives ties
During Sushma Swaraj’s visit, the nations also sign pacts on avoidance of double taxation and tax information exchange
New Delhi: India and the Maldives have drawn up a new blueprint for bilateral ties that included closer economic and defence cooperation, pointing to a thaw in the relations following the Maldives’ tilt towards China.
On Sunday, foreign minister Sushma Swaraj, who is on a two-day visit to the Maldives, met her counterpart Dunya Maumoon for the India-Maldives joint commission meeting after the agreements were made public.
This is the fifth joint commission meeting—after a gap of 15 years—between the two countries that reviews the entire spectrum of bilateral ties.
Swaraj also met Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen, who “reiterated Maldives’ policy of ‘India First,’ said an Indian foreign ministry statement.
The statement assumes significance given Yameen’s perceived tilt towards China in the past year with the island nation signing up for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Maritime Silk Route initiative during a visit to Male by Xi in September last year.
The passage of a controversial land acquisition law by parliament that allowed foreigners who invested more than $1 billion to own land in perpetuity, provided 70% of it is reclaimed from the Indian Ocean, also cast a pall over relations with India.
The apprehension in New Delhi was that China—which has been engaged in land reclamation in the South China Sea to assert its position in maritime disputes with its South-East Asian neighbours—could set up military bases in India’s immediate neighbourhood.
India was also upset that its efforts at helping the Maldives during a drinking water crisis earlier this year were used to fan anti-India sentiment in the country, according to government officials in New Delhi who did not want to be named.
Added to this was friction over the treatment meted out by the Maldives government to former president Mohammed Nasheed—the island nation’s first democratically elected president in 2008—that India thought was unwarranted.
Both nations also signed an avoidance of double taxation and tax information exchange pact and decided to “consider” an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement “for early finalization”, the statement said.
“The joint commission agreed to explore further measures to increase trade in goods and services and to strengthen links in the banking and financial sectors of both countries. The Maldivian side reiterated their interest in engaging with private investors in India” for key projects in the Maldives, the statement said.
“The experience of Indian companies in the Maldives was reviewed. The joint commission proposed establishment of a joint business forum and suggested that an investment oriented forum be part of the calendar for 2016,” it said.
This assumes importance in the backdrop of the abrupt termination in 2012 of a $511 million contract won by GMR Group along with a Malaysian partner to build the Male airport following allegations of irregularities in the contract award.
Tourism, fisheries, education, information technology, infrastructure development and energy cooperation were identified as areas for future cooperation, the statement said.
Another key area of cooperation discussed was defence and security relationship, which was “part of the forward looking discussions in the joint commission for the first time,” it said.
“Ongoing cooperation was reviewed and future requirements were discussed. India-Maldives defence cooperation includes the construction of a Composite Training Centre for the Maldivian National Defence Forces (MNDF) , joint patrolling, training programmes for MNDF officers in India, medical camps, joint exercises,” it said.
Skill development and training for the Maldivian youth was also discussed by the ministers. This comes amid Western media reports of the Maldives becoming a recruiting ground for militants belonging to Islamic State.
