New Delhi:
Maldives Minister Musa Zameer thanked India for its decision to export essential goods to the island nation in the financial year 2024-2025, to which Union Minister S Jaishankar reiterated New Delhi’s commitment to its Neighborhood First and SAGAR policies.
Zamir said India’s decision reflects the long-standing friendship between the two countries and their strong commitment to further expand bilateral trade and commerce.
Zameer said in a post on The long-standing friendship between the two countries and the strong commitment to further expand bilateral trade and commerce.”
Reacting to Maldives External Affairs Minister’s post on
India’s Neighborhood First Policy guides its approach to relations with neighboring countries such as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The policy aims to strengthen physical, digital and people-to-people connections across the region and expand trade and commerce.
The Indian High Commission in the Maldives posted on X on Thursday that the quotas for these projects have been increased.
“At the request of the Maldives government, the Indian government has allowed exports of certain quantities of essential commodities under a unique bilateral mechanism in 2024-25, where the quota for each commodity has been revised upwards,” the Indian High Commission in the Maldives posted on X.
Notably, the number of approvals is the highest since the arrangement came into effect in 1981. The quota for river sand and stone, a key item for the Maldives’ booming construction industry, has been increased by 25% to 1 million tonnes.
Quotas for eggs, potatoes, onions, sugar, rice, wheat flour and beans were also increased by 5%. Additionally, last year, India continued to export rice, sugar and onions to the Maldives despite a global ban on their exports.
“India remains firmly committed to supporting people-centred development in the Maldives as part of its ‘Neighborhood First’ policy,” the Indian High Commission in the Maldives said in a statement.
It is worth noting that relations between India and the Maldives have become tense since the inauguration of Maldivian President Mohamed Muizou. He criticized India during and after the presidential election, and his government formally demanded that India withdraw its troops from Male.
However, in March this year, Muizu asked New Delhi to take debt relief measures, while saying that India would continue to be the Maldives’ “closest ally”, according to local media reports. He further claimed that he “did not take any actions or make any remarks that could cause tension between the two countries.”
According to Adhadhu reports, Muizu said in an interview with local media “Mihaaru” that he hopes India can take debt relief measures for the Maldives to repay the huge loans from previous Maldivian governments.
“We inherited a condition that we had taken a lot of loans from India. So we are having discussions on how lenient the repayment structure of these loans can be. Not to stop any ongoing projects but to accelerate them. So I have not found the cause of any adverse effects [on Maldives-India relations],” He said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
