The Japanese government has approved a grant aid of 500 million Japanese Yen (approximately MVR 68,750,000) to the government of Maldives in support of the government’s efforts to promote the economic and social development in the country.

The exchange of notes was signed during a virtual ceremony held on Thursday afternoon, by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and the Ambassador of Japan to the Maldives Keiko Yanai, with a view to further develop friendly and cooperative relations between both countries.

As such, the grant aid will be utilized to boost the capacity of the Maldives Customs Service and Maldives Immigration, towards enhancing border control and counter terrorism.

Equipment such as facial recognition system, mobile X-rays, counterfeit bill detectors, special luminescent microscope, speedboats, and vehicles will be provided to the two agencies under the grant aid.

Thanking the government of Japan for the donation, Minister Shahid, during the ceremony, stated that this is yet another important gesture of Japan’s “goodwill” and “extraordinary generosity” shown towards the Maldives.

FM Shahid highlighted that the Exchange of Notes on Thursday marks an “important outcome” following Maldives president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s official visit to Japan in October 2019, where increasing bilateral cooperation into areas such as counter terrorism and border security were among the key topics of discussion.

Ambassador Yanai revealed that the assistance has “direct relevance” to the policy under the Strategic Action Plan of the Maldives.

In a press release issued consecutively, the Embassy of Japan in the Maldives noted that “Japan hopes the grant assistance will greatly enhance public safety and security in the Maldives thereby contributing to secure economic and social development”.

For several decades, Japan has been an important bilateral partner of the Maldives and both governments are currently in discussion revolving around a project to increase capacities of the health service providers of the island nation, at a time the country is facing the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Earlier, Japan donated USD 356,400 for UNICEF Maldives and USD 185,000 for Maldives Red Crescent to assist the government in its Covid-19 response efforts. Further, the Japanese government has also provided grant of USD 1.4 million to the UNDP Maldives that will support small and medium enterprises (SME’s) impacted by the virus.