India, Maldives ink pacts to boost education and health ties
India/March 28, 2022/Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
The relationship of Maldives with India is built on mutual respect and trust, its foreign minister Abdulla Shahid said from Malé as the two countries signed agreements for cooperation in education, health and capacity-building during foreign minister S Jaishankar’s ongoing visit to the country.
While the opposition led by former president Abdulla Yameen, who is considered pro-China, is busy carrying out the ‘India Out’ campaign, Shahid said the two countries are bound by shared waters, values, history and interests.
Jaishankar also handed over India’s expanded coastal radar system, comprising 10 radar systems, to Maldives for strengthening security in the region. In a tweet, Jaishankar described the radar system as a product of MEA-Navy partnership for regional security and a fine example of India’s ‘SAGAR’ and ‘Neighbourhood First’ policies.
India and Maldives also inaugurated the National College of Policing and Law Enforcement, an India-funded project. Shahid said this was the first college of this capacity, dedicated to the training of the police and the law enforcement, to be built in the Maldives
“This is his third visit to the Maldives since he took office in May 2019. This is the first official bilateral visit that is being hosted out of Malé (Addu). Several other projects being undertaken with Indian assistance in Addu City were also inaugurated today. This includes ground breaking of road development project, and inauguration of tourism zone, and a drug detox facility,” said Shahid.
In an apparent dig at China, Jaishankar said India’s relationship with the Maldives was very transparent. “Our development partnership — which is transparent, which is driven by the needs and priorities of the people and the government of Maldives — ranges upwards of $2.6 billion in terms of grants, loans, budgetary support, capacity building and training assistance,” he said in joint press statements with Shahid, adding the time-tested relationship is poised for a quantum jump.
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