India, Maldives sign six agreements in different sectors

In the delegation-level bilateral talks led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom both sides signed 6 agreements in the fields of defence, tourism, taxation, space research, and conservation of mosques.

Double Taxation:

• The MoU seeks to avoid double taxation of income derived from international air transport.

Exchange of Information:

• The agreement includes exchange of information relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation and prosecution of tax matters.

Defence Cooperation:

• The action plan envisages an institutional mechanism at the level of the defence secretaries to further bilateral defence cooperation.

Space Research:

• Another agreement related to orbit frequency coordination of the proposed South Asia Satellite at 48 degrees
• The agreement shall be used for the purpose of performing intersystem orbit-frequency coordination for the operation of South Asia Satellite; and fulfilling ITU level regulatory requirements and obtaining international level protection/recognition for the South Asia Satellite.

Tourism Cooperation:

• This includes expansion of bilateral cooperation, exchange of information and data related to tourism, encouraging cooperation between tourism stakeholders including hotels and tour operators, establishing exchange programmes for cooperation in human resource development, investment in the tourism and hospitality sectors.
• It also provides for exchanging visits of tour operators, media and opinion makers for promotion of two-way tourism and sustainable tourism.

Conservation and Restoration:

• The sixth agreement is on cooperation in the conservation and restoration of ancient mosques and joint research and exploratory surveys in the Maldives.