Male: India and Maldives on Monday reviewed the progress of ongoing development projects under $1.3 billion financial package in Male.
Indian Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla, who is on a 2-day visit to Maldives met President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and held substantive discussions on relations of two countries.
“Foreign Secretary @harshvshringla @HarshShringla commenced his two-day official visit with a call on President H.E. @ibusolih; held substantive discussions on #IndiaMaldives relations, progress of ongoing development projects under $1.3 bn financial package,’’ India High Commission in Maldives said in a series of tweets on Monday.
The secretary also informed about the Covid-19 vaccine related developments to the president.
“During the meeting, Foreign Secretary @HarshShringla @harshvshringla assured President Solih of our continued support to the Maldives in the entirety of the post-Covid recovery phase and apprised him of Covid vaccine-related developments,” it said.
During the visit, Mr Shringla will also hand over $100 million for the Maldives--the Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP).
India is overall providing funding of $500 million for the project, of which $100 million is a grant and $400 million is a Line of Credit (LOC).
The biggest project of the country will connect capital Malé with Villingili, Thilafushi and Gulhifalhu via bridges and causeways of a total length of 6.695 kilometres.
Ahead of the visit, the ministry of external affairs in a release said, “Maldives occupies a special place in India’s ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. This time-tested and enduring relationship with the Maldives strengthened and deepened even further in recent months.”
Mr Shringla had been to Bangladesh, Myanmar, France, Germany and UK as part of India's diplomatic outreach amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
