During the 5th meeting of India-Maldives Joint Commission which held after 15 years in Male, Maldives both nations marked cooperation in various fields including defence, security, energy and health.
(Indian Foreign Minister – Sushma Swaraj)
(Maldivian Foreign Minister – Dunya Maumoon)
This meeting has special significance as it showed up in the year marked with 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between India and the Maldives.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Sushma Swaraj indicated the significance of the Indian government’s policy of “neighbours first”.
- Areas included in cooperation are – inter-alia, the construction of a Composite Training Centre for the Maldivian National Defence Forces, joint patrolling, training programmes for MNDF (Maldives National Defence Force) officers in India, medical camps, joint exercises.
- Establishment of a Joint Business Forum
- An investment oriented forum in 2016
- Agreements to be signed on Avoidance of Double Taxation and Tax Information Exchange.
- Finalisation of Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.
- Finalisation of Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in criminal matters.
- To strengthen tele-medicine linkages between IGMH (Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital) and PGI, Chandigarh for expanding the number of speciality hospitals in India available to Maldivian nationals under the AASANDHA* scheme.
(*AASANDHA scheme was established in January 2012 as a health insurance scheme of Maldives and is managed by public-private partnership with Allied Insurance Company)
Maldives has strongly supported India’s candidature as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.
India will host the next meeting of the India-Maldives Joint Commission in 2017.
KEYS
Maldives capital – Male
Maldives currency – Maldivian rufiyaa
Maldives President – Abdulla Yameen