Maldives Prez to visit India on Aug 1

President of Maldives Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will pay a four-day visit to India from August 1 with an aim to further bolster bilateral ties. It will also provide an opportunity to review the relations and take the cooperation forward. Solih is scheduled to meet President Droupadi Murmu and hold extensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visiting dignitary will also visit Mumbai.

Meanwhile, Army Chief General Manoj Pande on Thursday held extensive talks here with the chief of Maldivian defence forces Major General Abdulla Shamaal, focusing on ways to further strengthen bilateral defence and security cooperation. Shamaal also called on Defence Secretary Ajay Kumar.

Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region and the bilateral defence and security ties have been on an upward trajectory in the last few years. "Gen Manoj Pande #COAS extended a warm welcome to Maj Gen Abdulla Shamaal, Chief of Defence Force, @MNDF_Official and discussed ways to strengthen the #DefenceCooperation between the two countries," the Army tweeted. 

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, during a visit to Male in March handed over a coastal radar system to Shamaal.  India and Maldives



share common perspectives on maritime security issues in the Indian Ocean and have been working together to expand defence cooperation. In April, Navy Chief Admiral R Hari Kumar visited Maldives and met Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamad Solih and other senior leaders of the island nation to further boost maritime security cooperation.

Development cooperation has been a key pillar of the India-Maldives relationship with New Delhi providing Lines of Credit of over $1.2 billion (one billion=100 crores) for infrastructure and grants for community development projects to the island nation.

In August last year, the island nation sealed a contract for the implementation of an India-funded connectivity project, billed as the largest infrastructure initiative being rolled out in the island nation.

Under the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) project, a 6.74km long bridge and causeway link will be built to connect capital city Male with adjoining islands of Villingli, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi.

Funded under a grant of $100 million and a Line of Credit of $400 million from India, it will be reportedly the largest infrastructure project in the Maldives.