The Maldives president has made it clear that he was following the same policy of prioritizing Maldives’ interests.
After External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar’s visit to Male, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu told the media that he would not allow anything that goes against the foreign policy of his government and that he was following the same policy of prioritizing Maldives’ interest.
President Muizzu was replying to a question on whether his government would allow the ‘India Out’ campaign launched by the ruling PNC-PPM coalition to grab power last year. The Maldives President said that he had not changed the foreign policy of his country. The response came immediately after Minister Jaishankar left for India in a special aircraft after spending two days in Maldives and launching several projects.
During Jaishankar’s visit, President Muizzu and his ministers were all milk and honey with the visiting dignitary as if there was no friction between the two countries since Muizzu was sworn in last November 17. Behind this perceptible change was the fact that Maldives is in dire economic crisis and even communist China cannot bail out Male without quid pro quo. The fact is that Maldives is facing a budgetary gap running into a couple of hundred million USD with India already rolling over a payment of USD 50 million to SBI in May and another USD 50 million due in September. Maldives has to pay some USD one billion to the market in 2026 and the country faces a default.
President Muizzu’s decision to forge bilateral cooperation with India comes from his own assessment of the past year of assuming power and the realization that only India can deliver on development, security and financial stress. Despite the 28 island project and the Greater Male connectivity project being launched by India before Muizzu assumed power, these development projects are on the verge of fruition and in the interest of the Maldives and not any political party. In the past year, President Muizzu has also realized the security requirements of Maldives with drug runners, pirates and arms smugglers operating in the deep Indian Ocean. He realizes that without Indian security support, Maldives stands exposed to the dark forces. Finally, like Sri Lanka, Maldives also faces financial stress and India is willing to help out without any leverage as it has shown by rolling over repayments.