Maldives' new FM calls India 'a key partner'
FM Shahid's first official trip abroad will be to India, and the next to China
Indian ambassador Akhilesh Mishra called on Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Monday
Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid has called former President Abdulla Yameen’s foreign policy “reckless”, adding that it had “amassed a number of issues” to the Indian Ocean region.
Minister Shahid made the statement in an interview to Times of India on Wednesday, where he emphasized that Maldives’ security “has always been closely linked to the security of our immediate neighbours”.
While the Yameen administration had given high priority to relations with China, Shahid stated that India will become a ‘key development partner’ during President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration.
“Decisions already taken [by the new government] show President Solih administration will prioritize the Maldives’ traditional relationship with India,” said the minister.
Maldives’ relations with India had deteriorated during President Yameen’s term, and the country was the only South Asian nation Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not visited until his trip on November 17; which was to attend Solih’s swearing-in ceremony.
As an ultimate blow to the bilateral relations between Indian and Maldives, Yameen’s administration had asked India to take back the two helicopters gifted to Maldives. However, Solih’s Defence Minister Mariya Didi has since said that the choppers will remain here.
Shahid also emphasized this in his interview to Times of India.
He further noted that the current administration “will also prioritise visa issues for Indian nationals”; Indians had faced numerous obstacles in obtaining work visas to Maldives towards the end of President Yameen’s five-year term.
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Shahid’s first official trip abroad will be to India. While he is to depart to India next week, his next trip will be to China.
While Yameen’s administration had hastily signed a free trade agreement with China, a top official of the ruling coalition has indicated that the Maldives will be pulling out of this.
In an interview to BBC earlier this week, former President Mohamed Nasheed had described the FTA as “very one-sided”.
