New Delhi: Moving to cement ties after a period of unease, India and the Maldives on Monday inked six agreements, including on defence cooperation, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen here and affirmed that the strategic Indian Ocean archipelago nation is among India’s closest partners.
In his media statement after bilateral talks with Yameen, Modi said: “The Maldives is among India’s closest partners. The stability and security of the Maldives are in the strategic interest of India.”
He said he and President Yameen discussed the entire gamut of bilateral relations as well as terrorism.
“We are united by ancient cultural links, strong people-to-people ties and the tides of the Indian ocean,” he said.
“India understands its role as a net security provider in the Indian Ocean and is ready to protect its strategic interests in this region.”
He said the prompt implementation of a concrete action plan in the defence sector would strengthen security cooperation between the two countries.
Modi said that development of ports, continuous training, capacity building, supply of equipment and maritime surveillance would be the main elements of the security cooperation.
He also said that India was ready to be partner for the Maldives in its iHaven project, one of the most important projects in President Yameen’s economic vision, and is being developed under the new laws of the Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
The project has six main goals, which are to develop an airport, a harbour, bunkering services, real estate, shopping malls, and resorts on an atoll.
India and the Maldives exchanged six agreements in the fields of taxation, tourism, space research, defence and conservation of mosques following Monday’s talks. (IANS)
