Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih thanked the Indian government for allowing Maldivians to access India’s health facilities and allowing them to travel to India for their treatment. In a statement, Solih especially thanked India for granting this privilege to the atoll-nation. Solih also outlined India’s efforts to help Maldives recover its economy, which has been mostly dependent on tourism in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“India eased the need for urgent health care for Maldivians, allowing them to travel to the country. No country other than the Maldives was granted this privilege,” Solih said in a statement released on his presidential website.
Solih also highlighted that India has assisted Maldives on several occasions and also donated the largest number of COVID-19 vaccines to enhance its response to the pandemic. “India bought $250 million worth of financial bonds to help our economy recover,” Solih said in his statement.
“India has generously assisted us on several occasions. India donated the maximum number of vaccines. We received a lot of equipment from India needed to provide health services. Also, a travel corridor was created between our countries to ensure the arrival of tourists,” Solih said.
The Government of India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi always considered Maldives as an important pillar of their ‘Neighbourhood First’ policy. The two countries have solid relations and cooperation has deepened under the respective governments.
India has supplied over 3.12 lakh vaccine doses to Maldives under the Vaccine Friendship programme. The Maldivian Health Emergency Operation Center (HEOC) was among the first to receive a vaccine made in India and in February 2021, over 1 lakh Maldivians were vaccinated with the COVAXIN Covid-19 vaccine.
Solih’s acceptance also indicates that India has been able to thwart Chinese and Pakistani designs to sabotage ties. Earlier in 2021, the opposition led by former Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen and the Progressive Congress – a coalition of opposition parties led by the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPP) launched an ‘India out’ campaign. Nation’s.
The campaign was in opposition to Solih’s ‘India First’ policy, which aimed to end Chinese interference in Maldivian governance due to poor policy implementation by Abdulla Yameen, when he awarded infrastructure projects to Chinese state-backed infrastructure companies in the atoll. did.
Projects backed by sovereign guarantees that would plunge the entire country into a debt trap, while radical sections of the opposition launched an ‘India Out’ campaign for the safety and security of Indians in the Maldives. However, under Solih’s guidance, relations between Male and New Delhi have developed.
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