President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih assures that his government has not entered any agreements that “could undermine the country’s independence and sovereignty”.
The president said this in his first meeting with the press since returning from a three-day state visit to India, where the neighboring country announced the decision to provide financial assistance- up to USD 1.4 billion- to Maldives.
He assured that the new administration “has not signed any deals that could undermine Maldivian independence and sovereignty.”
Responding to reports that the government is to allow foreign military bases in the country, President Solih stated that this is “completely false.”
“I would like to assure [the people] that reports of allowing military bases or permanent deployment of Indian military personnel in Maldives, are completely untrue,” said the president.
Furthermore, President Solih noted that he is yet to learn the details of the agreements signed by his predecessor former President Abdulla Yameen, including the “big agreement” in China.
Noting that the trip helped to improve the decades old ties with India “which had plummeted in the recent years,” the president said that he believes that “this was one of the biggest successes” of the trip.
Maldives and India signed four agreements during President Solih’s trip there. They are;
- Agreement of facilitation of visa arrangements
- Memorandum of Understanding on cultural cooperation
- Memorandum of Understanding for establishing mutual cooperation to improve the ecosystem for agribusiness
- Joint Declaration of intent on cooperation in the field of information, and communication technology and electronics.
In addition, the Indian government announced the decision to provide financial assistance up to USD 1.4 billion in the form of “budgetary support, currency swap and concessional lines of credit to fulfil socio-economic development programmes” to Maldives, the president thanked the government of India for the “generous assistance.”
