The governments of Maldives and India have exchanged six significant agreements.
Signed on Tuesday were six important agreements which mirrored a pivotal point of progress in the bilateral relationship between Maldives and India.
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi presided over, at the ceremony which took place at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
The key agreements exchanged included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Capacity Building and Training of Members of Local Councils and Women Development Committee and Staff of Local Government Authority, signed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives and the Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj of India.
The MoU serves the purpose of improving the technical competence and developing skills of local council members, women's development committees as well as other staff in relevant areas of local governance.
The second MoU was for cooperation in the area of cyber security, signed between the Maldives’ foreign ministry and the Indian Ministry of Railways, Communications and Electronics and Information Technology.
The MoU carries the purpose of promoting closer co-operation and the exchange of information pertaining to cyber security in accordance with relevant domestic laws, rules and regulations.
It is based on equality, reciprocity and mutual benefit between the two neighbors.
Third came an MoU on Collaboration in potential fishing zone forecast capacity building, between the Ministry of Economic Development of the Maldives and the Indian Ministry of Earth Sciences.
An MoU on cooperation in the field of disaster management was also signed as a fourth agreement, between the Ministry of Finance of the Maldives and the High Commission of India to Maldives.
The MoU aims to strengthen efforts in the field of crisis management between Maldives and India.
Further, an agreement was also signed between EXIM Bank of India and Ministry of Finance, Maldives, for Police Infrastructure developement.
The sixth agreement was a Letter of Intent on Buyer’s Credit funding approval of USD 119 million for additional 2,000 social housing units to be constructed in Hulhumalé.
The agreement was signed between the Ministry of Finance of the Maldives and the Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank) of India.
The agreements were signed as part of President Solih’s ongoing official visit to the neighboring country.
He is accompanied by a high-level delegation of government officials.