Rajnath Singh reaffirms India's support to Maldives to improve defence preparedness

New Delhi: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday reaffirmed India’s readiness to improve Maldives defence preparedness including provisioning of military platforms and assets at a wide-ranging discussion that he had with his Maldivian counterpart Mohammed Ghassan Maumoon.

At the first bilateral meeting, the two ministers reasserted their firm commitment to work closely in realising the joint vision for India-Maldives comprehensive economic and maritime security partnership, according to a statement issued by the Defence Ministry.

The meeting takes place nearly eight months after New Delhi pulled out all its military personnel from the Indian Ocean archipelago following a demand by its pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu.

However, there was a recent thaw in the relations as Muizzu vowed to boost the bilateral ties with India during his visit to Delhi in October.

"During the talks, both sides reasserted the firm commitment to work closely in realising the joint vision for India-Maldives Comprehensive Economic and Maritime Security Partnership," the ministry said.

 While Singh reaffirmed India’s readiness to support the island nation in capability enhancement for defence preparedness, including provisioning of defence platforms and assets to augment its capacities, Maumoon appreciated India’s historical role as the ‘First Responder’ for the Maldives.

The visiting minister also thanked New Delhi for assisting Male in augmenting the modern infrastructural capacities and training of defence and security personnel.

India in the past gave military platforms like patrol vessels, helicopters and a landing craft-assault ship, and stores to the archipelago remained one of India’s closest allies having a key role to counter Chinese overtures in the Indian Ocean Region.

Last week External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met his Maldivian counterpart Abdulla Khaleel in Delhi to explore ways to bolster bilateral ties in several key areas including maritime security, trade and investment.

Maumoon will also travel to Mumbai and Goa.