Male:
Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has struck a reconciliatory tone after his anti-India rhetoric, saying India will continue to remain his country’s “closest ally” as he sought a debt relief from New Delhi. The Maldives owed approximately $400.9 million to India at the end of last year.
Ever since taking oath as the President in November last year, the pro-China Maldivian leader has pursued a hardline stand towards India and within hours demanded that Indian military personnel operating three aviation platforms be repatriated from his country by May 10.
On Thursday, in his first interview with the local media since assuming office, President Muizzu said India was instrumental in providing aid to the Maldives and implemented the “greatest number” of projects.
India will continue to remain the Maldives’ closest ally, he said and emphasised that there was no question about it, Maldives news portal Edition.mv said in a report with excerpts of the President’s interview to its Dhivehi language sister-publication ‘Mihaaru.’
The comments praising India came after the first batch of Indian military personnel left the island nation this month as planned. By May 10, President Muizzu had demanded that all 88 military personnel, manning the three Indian aviation platforms, should leave the country.
India has been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives for the last few years with two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.
The Maldives’ proximity to India, barely 70 nautical miles from the Minicoy island in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles from the mainland’s western coast, and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) gives it significant strategic importance.
During the interview, President Muizzu urged India to accommodate debt relief measures for the Maldives in the repayment of “the hefty loans taken over consecutive governments”.
“The conditions we have inherited are such that there are very large loans taken from India. Hence, we are holding discussions to explore leniencies in the repayment structure of these loans.
“Instead of halting any ongoing projects… to proceed with them at speed, so I see no reason for any adverse effects (on Maldives-India relations),” President Muizzu added.
President Muizzu’s conciliatory comments towards India came ahead of Parliament elections in Maldives slated for mid-April.
He said Maldives has taken significant loans from India, which are heftier than can be borne by the Maldivian economy. “Due to this, he is currently discussing with the Indian government to explore options to repay the loans to the best of the Maldives’ economic capabilities,” the news portal said quoting him.
The President, who expressed hope that India would “facilitate debt relief measures in the repayment of these loans,” said he has conveyed his appreciation to the Indian government for their contributions.
During the previous regime, headed by pro-India leader Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s administration, the total loan taken from the Export and Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) stood at $1.4 million.
