The new Maldives foreign minister Dr Mohamed Asim held talks with his Indian counterpart Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi on Tuesday ahead of a crucial sit-down of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, a watchdog body comprising of eight foreign ministers.
Indian foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup was quoted in the Indian media as saying Dr Asim had shared his assessment on recent developments in his country and their engagement with the UN and the Special Envoy of the Commonwealth in the context of the forthcoming CMAG meeting in New York.
The CMAG is a group of representatives of members of the Commonwealth countries (a voluntary group of 53 countries that were former British colonies) responsible for upholding the Commonwealth’s fundamental political values that includes democracy.
In their discussions, Swaraj and Asim in his first overseas visit since taking office last month“took note of the high-level exchanges in recent weeks between the two countries and reviewed progress on various aspects of the bilateral relationship,” Swarup said.
“Asim apprised Swaraj about preparations for the Maldives Investment Forum to be held in New Delhi later this year. Swaraj reiterated the view expressed by Prime Minister Modi that India wants all its neighbours to benefit from the economic growth and development in India,” Swarup said.
“The ministers also exchanged views on the consonance in the strategic perspectives of the two countries to maintain peace and security in the Indian Ocean region. Swaraj and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives reaffirmed their resolve to continue strengthening the bilateral partnership between India and Maldives,” he added.
Dr Asim replaced Dunya Maumoon, daughter of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom and niece of incumbent president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom.
Dunya had resigned on in July, after being opposed to the Yameen government’s plans to end a moratorium on the death penalty after a gap of six decades.
Earlier this year, Yameen on a visit to India, publicly acknowledged that he was visiting New Delhi to thank the Indian government for “protecting” the Maldives in the CMAG deliberations which had examined whether the democratic processes in the atoll nation had broken down.
India is one of the nine countries in the CMAG team that visited the Maldives in February.
There have been question marks over the Maldives’ adherence to democratic values in recent years following the controversial exit of Mohammed Nasheed, seen as the first-democratically elected president following multi-party elections in 2008.
Nasheed, who left the presidency in 2012, later said he was unseated in a coup. But the international community, including India, recognized his successor, Mohammed Waheed.
Yameen came to power in 2013 but his critics maintain that he has been assuming authoritarian powers, suppressing dissent and protests.
Nasheed’s jailing on a terror charge last year was a key trigger of the current political crisis. He was allowed to leave the country in an internationally brokered deal in January.
Commonwealth has been pushing the government and the opposition to engage in dialogue and end the political strife in the archipelago.
The Commonwealth has threatened action if there is no progress on dialogue by September.
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