India is to send 580 tonnes of food aid to the Maldives.
The Indian High Commission in Maldives said that the aid is part of the ongoing assistance in Maldives Covid-19 response efforts, and added that the aid follows a telephone conversation between President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 20 “when the two leaders discussed bilateral cooperation in the wake of Covid-19”.
The food aid is expected to arrive in the Maldives soon, onboard Indian Navy ship INS Kesari. They include:
- Parboiled Rice: 200 tons
- Wheat Flour: 140 tons
- Sugar: 80 tons
- Yellow Dal: 120 tons
- Onions: 26 tons
- Potatoes: 14 tons
The high commission also noted that the food aid “is part of India’s Security and Growth for All (SAGAR) doctrine of the government of India”.
While INS Kesari is to take aid to five Indian Ocean islands, Maldives will be the first stop for the ship.
Further noting that both Maldives and India “have supported a regional strategy to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic and its effects on [the] peoples”, the Indian High Commission in Maldives said that “this food aid “is a token of friendship from the people of India to the people of the Maldives during the holy month of Ramadan”.
It added that this is “another milestone in the time-honored and close relations between our two nations”.
The Indian government has been assisting in Maldives’ Covid-19 response efforts from the start, including in evacuating Maldivians stranded in Wuhan, China where the virus was first reported as well as sending a medical experts’ team for assistance and providing essential medicines and other supplies.
