Male, Maldives

Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer has said that his country will be "very sensitive to any needs of our neighbours" amid the visits of a Chinese vessel. Speaking to WION's diplomatic correspondent Sidhant Sibal, FM Zameer said, "We will make sure that the Indian Ocean is a peaceful place and a peaceful Indian Ocean is good for India as well as is good for Maldives." Notably, a Chinese research ship, Xiang Yang Hong 03, visited the country two times earlier this year.

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FM Zameer held talks with EAM Jaishankar on Thursday (May 9) in Delhi, in what was the first high-level visit from the Muizzu government that took charge last year. Terming India as a "development partner in the Maldives", the FM confirmed that debt relief was part of the talks with the Indian side. He further confirmed that Indian tourists to Maldives had "tremendously decreased".

Here's the full interview: 

Sidhant Sibal: How do you see India-Maldives ties and how were your talks with EAM Jaishankar?

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Moosa Zameer: India being geographically the closest country to Maldives with historical relations of people-to-people connection. India has also been a development partner in the Maldives. If you look at history, Maldives has rapidly grown from the least developed nation, and India played a catalytic role in this achievement. My meeting with the External Affairs Minister, we had a very good meeting, we were able to discuss and focus on our priorities and also look back at what has happened and what we could do better. We could work and what are the new challenges that we have. 

Sidhant Sibal: When it comes to tourism, that has been the pillar of the relationship but we have seen the number of Indian tourists travelling to Maldives now getting reduced because of what we know happened in the past. What's your take when it comes to Indian tourists travelling to the Maldives? 

Moosa Zameer: India obviously is one of the very key source markets for the Maldives. If you look at the statistics, earlier this year, we had in Maldives, incoming tourism had a growth of about 16%. But the Indian tourism market, the source market has actually tremendously decreased due to some issues that we have had. I don't think it's an issue with the govt because you could recall there was some remarks which were regretful towards the leadership of India and then I think, I have issued a statement and it was not the view of the government and it definitely is not the president or the people of Maldives, how we view Indian leadership or Indians as such. So we have issued statements and we believe the message was received well and obviously, it's the sort of social media which has actually led to it. Unfortunately, if you really look at it there isn't much we could do but definitely it's going to improve with my visit and also the future collaborations that we are going to have, which we have discussed earlier today. So Indian markets like my tourism minister has said, Indian source market is very important for us and then we will continue to work on that.

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Sidhant Sibal: Were there any discussions on debt relief?

Moosa Zameer: Like I have said, if you look at the macroeconomic balances in the Maldives, when we came into the government, any country which we owe money, we needed to discuss that. That was part of the discussion. Yes. But again, you will see the previous government has actually taken debt from I think it was 60 billion Rufiyaa when they came in 2018 and then when they left it, it was about 220 billion Rufiyaa. So obviously a big part of the debt is to India. a big part of that and that is to India, we had to discuss that as well. 

Sidhant Sibal: The government in Maldives is seen as pro-China not very pro-India, would you reaffirm your India-first policy?

Moosa Zameer: The current government is pro-Maldives government. So we have good relations with all development partners or bilateral allies. We have good relations with India as well as China. China has been a development partner with Maldives, in the past decade. There is a lot of involvement in China being a country, whose economy is growing rapidly, their investments and their collaborations with their partners, and the world has seen this happen. I think we are also part of those countries where China has been actively engaged in developing and then bringing in projects and bringing in finances which they were investing abroad.

Sidhant Sibal: Chinese research cum spy vessels have visited Maldives.

Moosa Zameer: Well, actually, the vessel in question, in January 2024, we received a request for the diplomatic clearance of the vessel for peaceful purposes for port call. We issued as requested like we have been issued and many others, I think, early March, a US destroyer came to Maldives and after that, there was one from Turkey and so this is one of those processes. So again, I can understand what you mean. So, we will definitely be very sensitive to any needs of our neighbours. We will make sure that the Indian Ocean is a peaceful place and a peaceful Indian Ocean is good for India as well as is good for Maldives. And a prosperous Maldives is good for India and it is good for Maldives.

Sidhant Sibal: One thing that you have been talking about is the removal of Indian defence personnel stationed in Maldives. What is the status, because the deadline is 10th May.

Moosa Zameer: If you look at military and defence cooperation, India and Maldives have a history. And it's not just about Indian military personnel. India is I think the only country after the US that we have military exercises. We met earlier this year also, we have had these military exercises Dosti- Sri Lanka and Maldives and as an observer, I think Bangladesh also participated and we have more plans in the future. So we have the Indian military personnel who left and civilians have taken over, so it was a bit sensitive issue for the Maldives and Indian Government has actually taken care of that and we really appreciate that. I think when the two leaders, PM Modi and President Muizzu met in Dubai earlier it was agreed and so we have actually moved beyond that. So that part is over. But those military platforms are being manned by civilians, Indian civilians. Like I said, we are pro-Maldives and we have no intention of replacing the military of another country or anything because we are pro-Maldives.

Sidhant Sibal: How do you see India supporting infrastructure projects in Maldives?

Moosa Zameer:  I think, like I said at the beginning, India has been one of the key development partners for the Maldives from 1965. Since we got independence, in fact, India was one of the first countries to recognize Maldives in 1965. So after that, you know we had a lot of exchanges and especially in our development India has been an active partner. In the current projects that you have been referring to, it's ongoing and we discuss the progress of the projects and we are trying to bring in mechanisms so that it can be fast-tracked so that the benefit of these projects can come quicker to the people. And also it comes with debt as well, some of these projects, debt and grant, we are trying to make sure that you know the full benefits are quickly received by the people of Maldives.