13 Aug 2024
The External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar inaugurated the water and sanitation project worth ₹923 crore and introduced UPI there.
S Jaishankar signed many Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) and virtually inaugurated six High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) in the areas of mental health, speech therapy, special education, and street lighting. The MoUs focused on capacity building for 1,000 more civil servants in India and launching the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) in the Maldives.
With Maldives President Dr Mohamed Muizzu and Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel, S Jaishankar inaugurated the water project in 28 islands backed by India’s Line of Credit.
India’s relations with Maldives strained after the Muizzu government came in September 2023, which was inclined towards strengthening their relations with China over India. Derogatory remarks against Narendra Modi, pushing withdrawal of Indian military personnel from Maldives, and a social media war impacted the relations further.
In the July 2024 budget, India reduced the grants to Maldives to ₹400 crore, which is ₹200 crore less than announced in February.