India, Maldives partnership reaches USD 2.6 bn

New Delhi, March 27 India and Maldives partnership today ranges to USD 2.6 billion in terms of grants, concessional loans, budgetary support and capacity building and training assistance.

India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is in Maldives for two days from March 26 to March 27, during which he will call on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.

He held discussions with the Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid and signed several agreements related to the bilateral development cooperation, inauguration/ and handing-over and launch of a number of key India-supported projects that will contribute to the socio-economic development of Maldives and enhance its security.

Addu roads projects

At Addu city, which consists of the inhabited islands southernmost part of Maldives, India is supporting projects in a range of sectors infrastructure, tourism, fish processing and health.

"We will be witnessing the inauguration and launch of some of these projects. Work has commenced on Addu Roads projects, as also on the 4,000 housing units, the drinking water and sanitation," said India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, in his address to Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and other senior officers.

Greater Male connectivity project

He also said the iconic Greater Male Connectivity Project, which holds the potential of actually transforming the transport landscape of the capital, has moved from the "level of concept to preliminary works in less than two years, that too during the years of Covid".

"Geo-technical surveys are ongoing. I hope we can do a ground-breaking in the coming months," he said.

Hanimaadhoo Airport project

The Hanimaadhoo Airport Redevelopment Project, the expansion of facilities of MIFCO, the cricket stadium, and the social housing projects have all seen momentum in implementation in the past year.

The detailed project report of USD 40 million Sports Line of Credit was in February last year is near completion. Under this Line of Credit, the National Stadium will be renovated and sports infrastructure would be built across Maldives.

National Knowledge Network

In the fields of capacity building and training, the National Knowledge Network A