News

Maldives and India exchange agreements on four key projects

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi have jointly launched four developmental projects in the Maldives. The projects were launched with the exchange of agreements between the two countries at a special video conference held this evening.

The first agreement was exchanged on gifting in-shore patrol vessel CGS Kaamiyaab to Maldives. The certificate of CGS Kaamiyaab was presented to Minister of Defence Mariya Ahmed Didi by Ambassador of India to Maldives Sunjay Sudhir.

The 28-metre vessel, equipped with state-of-the-art technology, is designed for coastal patrolling, surveillance, high-speed interception and search-and-rescue operations. Five executives and three technical officers of MNDF were trained prior to the induction of the vessel.

The second agreement was exchanged on establishing neighbourhood fish processing plants in Addu City. The project was launched under the exchange of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding Indian Grant Assistance for Implementation of High Impact Community Development Projects. The MoU was exchanged between Ambassador Sudhir and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid.

The agreement was signed in March 2019 between the Indian Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Maldives and Addu City Council during the official visit to Maldives by External Affairs Minister of India, the late Sushma Swaraj. The MoU facilitates the implementation of projects which would contribute significantly to economic and social development and improvement of public welfare, particularly in the areas of education, health and community development sectors. This agreement would see the development neighbourhood fish processing plants in three islands of Addu City - Hithadhoo, Hulhudhoo-Meedhoo, and Maradhoo. Addu City Council is the implementing agency of the projects.

The third agreement, regarding the acceptance of the RuPay Card in Maldives, was exchanged between the Chief Executive Officer of Bank of Maldives (BML) Timothy Sawyer, and the Lead of International Alliances of the National Payments Cooperation of India, Hari Shankar Yadav.

The agreement seeks to strengthen bilateral tourism and people-to-people ties, targeting to increase the number of Indian tourists visiting the Maldives while making it easier for the visitors to make payments. With the agreement, RuPay Cards would be accepted throughout merchant locations and ATMs across the country.

The final agreement was exchanged on gifting LED street lamps to Male City. The lamps are gifted as part of the collaboration between the two countries in the field of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. The project has seen the replacement of over 2500 conventional street lamps with LED lamps in Male. It would save 0.2 million units of energy annually, translating to a total energy cost-saving of over USD 52,000 per annum and a reduction of 145 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The streetlamps were gifted under an agreement signed between Malé City Council and the Energy Efficiency Service Limited (EESL) — an undertaking of the Ministry of Power of India.

President Solih and Prime Minister Modi delivered remarks at the video conference simulcast live in Maldives and India. This is the first time Maldives exchanged bilateral agreements with another country via video conferencing.