MoUs Between India-Maldives

• 12 Nov 2020

Why in News

Recently, India and the Maldives have signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).

Key Points

• Four MoUs:
  
  • Two MoUs for High Impact Community Development Projects.
  • An MoU on Cooperation in Sports and Youth Affairs.
  • An MoU for a USD 100 million grant to fund the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) which is the largest ever such infrastructure project undertaken in the Maldives.
    
    • GMCP is a financial package by India, consisting of a grant of USD 100 million and a new line of credit of USD 400 million.
    • This will be the largest civilian infrastructure project in the Maldives, connecting Malé (the capital) with three neighbouring islands viz. Villingili, Gulhifalhu (where a port is being built under Indian line of credit) and Thilafushi (new industrial zone) by the construction of a bridge-and-causeway link.
    • This will boost economic activity, generate employment and promote holistic urban development in the Malé region.
• Other Recent Initiatives:
  
  • In April 2020, India supplied 6.2 tonnes of essential medicines to the Maldives, under Operation Sanjeevani to tackle the pandemic.
  • In May 2020, India under Mission Sagar, supplied food items and medical assistance teams to the countries in the southern Indian Ocean including the Maldives.
    
    • Indian Government assures that the Maldives will be among the first countries to receive Covid-19 vaccines as soon as one is developed in India.
  • In August 2020, the bilateral Air Travel Bubble was established which connects five Indian cities with Male through 13 weekly flights leading to a steep increase in the number of tourists.
    
    • Creating a travel bubble involves reconnecting countries or states which have shown a good level of success in containing the Covid-19 domestically.
    • Such a bubble would allow the members of the group to restart trade ties with each other and open travel and tourism.
  • In October 2020, both governments inked a deal for a USD 400 million line of credit from the Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank), premier export finance institution of India.
    
    • The soft loans to the Maldives have funded connectivity, water, sewerage projects, Addu Development Project, an international cricket stadium, Gulhifalhu port, etc.
• Significance:
  
  • The MoUs are symbolic of India-Maldives’ strong development partnership which is multi-faceted and designed to meet the specific requirements of the government and people.
    
    • The Maldives enjoys a special and central place in India’ Neighbourhood First policy and itself has a foreign policy of India First.
    • India is supportive of Maldivian Foreign Minister’s candidature for the Presidency of the 76^th session of the United Nations General Assembly in 2021.
    • Both nations have consistently supported each other in multilateral fora such as the UN, the Commonwealth, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).
  • Amid India’s growing concern over China’s increasing influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), the ties with the Maldives are of crucial importance.
    
    • The current Maldivian President is being criticised by the opposition for having an “India-tilt”. The Former President was dislodged from office in 2018 and was widely perceived as a close ally of China.

Source: TH