The governments of Maldives and India have signed several key agreements.

This was done during a ceremony held in Addu City on Saturday evening, following the arrival of India’s External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Saturday evening.

As such, agreements were signed on the reciprocal recognition of Covid-19 vaccination certificate which will facilitate easier travel between Maldives and India as well as the Peering Agreement for connectivity between the Higher Education Network of Maldives and the National Knowledge Network of India.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ministry of Health of Maldives, and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, of India were exchanged between Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem and High Commissioner Munu Mahawar, for the Reciprocal Recognition of Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate.

The Reciprocal Recognition of Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate MoU will pave way to recognize the Indian Covid-19 Vaccination Certificate issued through utilization of CoWIN platform and the Maldivian COVID-19 Digital Certificate issued via ‘https://covidsafe.gov.mv'.

Further, the Peering Agreement between National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) of Maldives and National Informatics Centre (NIC) of India was exchanged as well.

This was followed by the launching of the connectivity between the Higher Education Network of Maldives (HNM) and the National Knowledge Network of India (NKN).

The agreement carries the purpose of recognizing the general basis for a cooperative and collaborative working relationship between NCIT of Maldives and NIC India in the areas of Information and Communications Technology.

The agreement is expected to greatly boost connectivity and collaboration in several fields pursued by the Indian government, including e-governance, digital distanced education, security, space, weather and e-health.

Further, an MoU will also be signed on capacity building and areas of cooperation between Maldives Police Service and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad.

The MoU will see mutual cooperation established in the field of training management and exchange of trainers as well as trainees between the two institutions.

The Minister of External Affairs of India, Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is in the Maldives on an official visit.

The Indian External Affairs Minister arrived at Gan International Airport on Saturday evening and was received by Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid, Addu City Mayor Ali Nizar, MPs representing Addu constituency in the People’s Majlis as well as senior officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The visit came upon the official invitation of FM Shahid.

This is Dr. Jaishankar’s third visit to the Maldives,since assuming office in May 2019,

As this is the first time that Maldives has hosted an official bilateral visit outside the capital Malé City, the visit will be of historic significance.