Debt-plagued Maldives to host Modi, continuing to rebuild ties with lender

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to boost India’s development partnership with the Maldives during a two-day visit this week, as New Delhi and Beijing compete for influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Modi, who arrived in Male on Friday, is the first foreign leader to visit President Mohamed Muizzu since he took office in 2023, pledging to end the Maldives’ “India first” policy and strengthen ties with China.

Muizzu’s early moves briefly strained relations with New Delhi, before India helped the $7.5 billion economy avoid default as the Maldives struggled to attract tourists to its beaches and luxury resorts.

Muizzu has since visited both India and China, the Maldives’ main bilateral lenders, to secure financial support, signed trade pacts with China and Turkey, and opened talks with India on a trade agreement and an investment treaty.

Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said steady diplomacy had helped to repair relations.

“There will always be events that will impact or try to intrude on the relationship. But I think this is testimony to the kind of attention that has been paid to the relationship, and including attention at the highest levels,” Misri said.

Former Maldives foreign minister Abdulla Shahid told Reuters Modi’s visit signaled Muizzu had “decided to step back and correct the narrative.”

India is expected to extend a $565 million line of credit to the Maldives, and talks on a Free Trade Agreement are set to formally begin.

Modi will also remotely inaugurate an India-financed expansion of the International Airport on the island of Hanimadhoo and attend Saturday’s celebrations marking the Maldives’ 60th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Copied