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NEW DELHI — India will give a $100 million line of credit score to the Maldives to help improvement tasks, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned on Tuesday after holding talks along with his counterpart, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
Solih arrived in India on Monday for a four-day go to. The 2 international locations inked six agreements to spice up cooperation in a number of areas, together with catastrophe administration, cyber safety and reasonably priced housing.
The 2 leaders additionally marked the beginning of building on the Higher Male Connectivity Mission, a 6.74- kilometer- (4.2 mile)- lengthy bridge and causeway funded by India that may join the nation’s capital, Male, to 3 different islands.
Each careworn the significance of shut ties between their two international locations as very important for peace and stability within the area.
“There was renewed vigor within the pleasant ties between India and Maldives. Our closeness has elevated,” Modi mentioned, including that regardless of challenges sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic, cooperation between the 2 international locations has strengthened.
Solih mentioned the 2 leaders mentioned terrorism and the necessity to “improve maritime security and safety within the Indian Ocean area”. Neither talked about China, however Solih’s election in 2018 marked a shift from his predecessor, Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who developed shut ties with Beijing in an space India considers as its yard.
India has been involved by Yameen’s leaning in direction of China, which has sought to realize extra affect within the Indian Ocean. The previous president had pledged help for China’s Belt and Highway Initiative, with the nation investing in lots of infrastructure tasks within the Maldives.
“The Maldives will at all times stay a real buddy of India,” Solih mentioned on Tuesday, including that the connection between the 2 can be “of the best precedence”.
His go to follows an announcement that he’ll run for re-election in 2023. Since coming to energy, the Maldivian president has touted his authorities’s “India-first coverage” and has pledged full help towards deepening ties with New Delhi.
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