Maldives thanks India for $50 million budget aid after Indian troop withdrawals
Maldives foreign minister Moosa Zameer on Monday hailed the Indian government for extending a budget support of $50 million to the island nation, this amid downturn in bilateral relations between the two countries since pro-China Mohammed Muizzu took over as president.
“I thank EAM @DrSJaishankar and the Government of #India for extending vital budgetary support to Maldives with the rollover of USD 50 million Treasury Bill. This is a true gesture of goodwill which signifies the longstanding friendship between #Maldives and #India,” Zameer, who visited India from May 8 to 10 on his very first bilateral official visit, posted on social platform X.
The Maldives government’s foreign office said that India’s budgetary support was in the form of a rollover of $50 million Treasury Bill, for an additional year, through the State Bank of India, Male’, from 13 May 2024.
The Maldives government said it is “highly appreciative of the generous support that Government of India has been providing to the Maldives in the form of budgetary support.”
“Large number of infrastructural developmental projects and High Impact Community Developmental projects are underway with the assistance from the Government of India, which consists of a notable part as grant assistance. The Government of Maldives looks forward in continuing this collaborative partnership for the mutual benefit and prosperity of their people,” the Muizzu government statement added.
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Last week, the Maldives foreign minister had said that 76 Indian military personnel were replaced by civilian employees of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited which manufactured the two helicopters gifted by India, thus also ending the suspense over the exact number of those repatriated at the insistence of Male.
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External affairs minister S Jaishankar with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer.((X/Moosa Zameer)
The relations between the two countries came under severe strain in the view of Muizzu insisting on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel operating three military platforms in the island nation.
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