India to support Maldivian minister for UNGA presidency

NEW DELHI: India will support Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid for president of the UN General Assembly for 2021. Foreign secretary Harsh Shringla announced this in Male on Monday, indicating the sea change in bilateral ties in just two years.
On his 17th visit to Maldives, Shringla is meeting all shades of political and business opinion in the island country, part of India’s continuing attempt to hold physical meetings during the pandemic, officials said.
India is back in Maldives, after years of being edged out by China. During the pandemic, India has gone the extra mile to assist Maldives with food, therapeutics etc, and Shringla announced today that India would share a Covid vaccine with Maldives, whenever it was ready. The pandemic has also helped to tilt the tourism balance towards India.
Tourism is the mainstay of the Maldives economy, which has taken a huge hit with the pandemic. However, an air bubble created between India and Male has brought over 35000 Indian tourists to the islands so far. While this is down from the 100000 in 2019, the Indian tourist has helped to shore up the flagging fortunes of Maldives. Chinese tourists, who were the bulk of the tourist traffic to Maldives, have stayed away this year. From this month, there will be 13 flights a week between five Indian cities and Male in the air bubble.

Beginning with a meeting with the president Ibu Solih, Shringla reviewed the gamut of bilateral relations with his counterpart Abdul Ghafoor, tweeting, “both apprised each other of the respective national approaches to deal with Covid-19; positively assessed the robust growth in our bilateral ties.”
Countering the frequent allegation that Indian infrastructure assistance is slow and incompetent, India has told Maldives it would complete the promised infrastructure during the political cycle, that is, before 2023.
If China has built one bridge, India is currently building three. Connecting three big islands, it will also include a business part and a port, all of this being part of the Greater Male Connectivity Project. The Indian mission in Maldives tweeted, “@abdulla_shahid _appreciated the substantial and timely assistance provided by India during the Covid pandemic, esp. the $250 million budgetary and revenue support. $100 million grant Agreement signed to part-finance the Greater Male’ Connectivity Project.”
Speaking at an event, Shringla said, “the Indian government has provided additional assistance of $500 million for the Greater Male Connectivity Project. The project, which will connect Male with Villingi, Gulhifalhu and Thilafushi through bridges and causeways, will become a new economic lifeline for Maldives. It will link capital Male with the new commercial port at Gulhifalhu also being funded under an Indian LoC and the Thilafushi industrial zone.”
Shringla started off with a meeting with Maldives president Ibu Solih. “@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.”
He also met Mohamed Nasheed, speaker of the Majlis. One of India’s consistent message to the political leadership in Maldives has been to stay united and build the country, to avoid the kind of fractious politics that has riven the country for years. On Tuesday, the foreign secretary is expected to meet the opposition leaders including from Mohamed Yameen’s party and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, the grand old man of Maldives politics.
A key feature of Indian diplomacy in the immediate neighbourhood is small, quick impact development projects that target local communities, in this case the numerous islands that make up Maldives. On Monday, Shringla oversaw the gift of materials for children’s parks in 67 islands. With Shahid, the two countries “witnessed signing of MoUs on setting up of a Drug-Detox Centre in Addu City and upgrading the Agricultural Research Centre in Hanimaadhoo as part of India’s approx. MVR 200 million grant for High-Impact projects.”