Mali: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday inaugurated a coastal radar system and military training centre in the Maldives, as New Delhi seeks to fend off Chinese influence in the strategically-placed nation.
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The Maldives, a low-lying archipelago of more than a thousand tiny coral islands south of the Indian subcontinent, straddles the world’s busiest east-west maritime route.
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India, the country’s traditional ally, had watched former strongman leader Abdulla Yameen’s growing political and financial reliance on Beijing with unease.
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But Yameen’s election loss last September has seen the new administration under President Ebrahim Mohammad Solih gravitate back to the nation’s traditional benefactors in New Delhi.
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Modi and Solih inaugurated the training facility on Saturday, officials said, adding that both projects cost New Delhi $26 million (Dh95 million.
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A joint statement said the two sides discussed the need to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region.
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The leaders pledged to combat piracy, terrorism, organised crime and trafficking through “coordinated patrolling and aerial surveillance, exchange of information, and capacity building,” the statement said.
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Modi is making his second trip to the Maldives in less than seven months.
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The two-day visit is also Modi’s first foreign visit since taking the oath of office for his second term after an emphatic election win in May.
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Under Modi’s leadership, India earlier this year granted a $800 million line of credit to the Maldives, which remains heavily indebted to Beijing.
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The Indian premier next travels to neighbouring Sri Lanka, where he will hold talks with political leaders during a brief stopover.