New Delhi, India – Minister of Extrnal Affairs of India Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has given the reassurance that India will provide essential commodities to Maldives without any hindrance.
In a tweet posted by Maldivian Foreign Ministry after Minister Abdulla Shahid’s meeting with the Indian External Affairs Minister, it stated that both ministers had discussed about the ongoing projects and corporation on multilateral arena.
Both Ministers had also discussed about the current situation of Covid-19, and vaccination programmes. Minister Shahid thanked Government of India for the assistance provided to people of Maldives during the pandemic. The External Affairs Minister assured Minister Shahid of India’s ongoing support for the socio-economic development of the Maldives.
After the current government took office, Indian support through various projects has been seen all around the Maldives and specially during the pandemic. India has also announced a USD500 million package for the Male’-Thilafushi bridge which is in it’s preliminary stage right now. In addition to this, seven projects through Indian credit lines are to commence as well.
During the worst time of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, India continuously assisted the Maldivian government in providing necessary food and medicine supplies and has promised to maintain a steady flow of basic necessities. Indian government also sent a team of doctors in March of this year to assist in the Covid-19 preparedness followed by 11.7 tonnes of medicines in April and May.
Maldives has also received 200,000 doses of the Covishield vaccine from India this year. The Covishield, which is manufactured by AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, in collaboration with the Oxford University of the United Kingdom, unlike many other Covid-19 vaccines, does not require extreme cold temperatures for it to be stored, which makes the jab ideal for a tropical island nation like the Maldives.
