NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj returned to Delhi on Monday after her two-day to the Maldives, where she held talks with the country’s top leadership to discuss ways to boost bilateral relations across all spheres, particularly defence, development cooperation, capacity building and healthcare.
Though Prime Minister Narendra Modi had visited the Maldives in November to attend the swearing-in ceremony of President Ibrahim Solih in November last year, this was the first full-fledged official Indian bilateral visit to the island nation.
Swaraj, accompanied by senior officials including foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale, was received at Velana International Airport by her Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Shahid.
Sources said that both sides were aware of the Indian government’s limitations owing to the code of conduct now in force for the upcoming parliamentary elections.
They said the visit was aimed at improving relations which had soured during the tenure of former President Abdulla Yameen, who had aggressively wooed China and had declared an emergency to quell opposition protests.
President Solih, who defied expectations to win the November elections, paid an official visit to Delhi in December and returned with aid worth US 1.4 billion for the island nation.
Yameen had incurred major debts after allowing several major Chinese infrastructure projects in the country.
Swaraj, who held talks with a cross-section of ministers Sunday, also visited the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) — gifted by the Indian government in 1995 — and unveiled a plaque dedicating the renovated hospital to the Maldivian people before attending a banquet hosted in her honour by foreign minister Shahid.
According to an MEA release, the two nations also agreed to remain mindful of each other’s concerns and aspirations for the stability of the Indian Ocean region and not allow their respective territories to be used for any activity inimical to their interests.
Among other things, she also agreed to consider a request to build a cricket stadium in the Maldives. Other agreements include moving the Indian embassy, now in the Maldives, to the capital’s suburban district of Hulhumalé from Henveiru in Malé City.