Male [Maldives], February 20 (ANI): India and the Maldives are “two wings in synchronised motion” said Maldivian Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Saturday highlighting the same interests between Male and New Delhi.
“A bird in flight, stays true on course, with not one but two wings in synchronized motion. Our two countries are just like those wings. We work in harmony, we work together, with the same interests, aiming to reach the same destination,” he said in Hindi during an address.
He added that the relationship that exists between the two countries predates formalities – “one that remains unhindered by time”.
“Ours is a relationship that predates formalities – one that remains unhindered by time. Ours is a relationship of people…One of the top foreign policy objectives of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was to reinvigorate and revitalize our traditional, long-standing relationship with India,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, Minister of External Affairs S Jaishankar at the Joint Conference with Shahid in Male said that the relationship between the two countries “has been strengthened and transformed over the previous two years is frankly quite unprecedented.”
“Ours is an extraordinarily deep partnership in which we have both supported each other in the best traditions of friendship and neighbourliness,” he added.
The minister pointed out that it was quite natural that the first and largest recipient of India‘s COVID-19 support – be it medicines, food, medical response teams or financial package – was the Maldives.
“It is equally no surprise that Maldives is the first country where India-made COVID vaccines landed, and this was just within 96 hours of our own vaccine rollout. I must congratulate you, Minister, on your efficient vaccination drive making, I believe, Maldives the third best in the world in terms of daily doses administered per 100 population. To further assist you in this drive, I have today carried with me another consignment of 100,000 doses of COVID vaccine as India‘s gift to the government and people of the Maldives,” he said.
“By joining the Indian Ocean Regional Association (IORA), re-joining the Commonwealth and playing a greater role in the United Nations, Maldives has demonstrated its value in the comity of nations,” he added.
