A digest of news and opinion from the Maldives.
Pune: A 14-day joint military exercise — Ekuverin — of Indian army and the Maldives National Defence Force will begin on Friday at Belgaum in Karnataka, a press communique issued by the Southern Command Headquarters, Pune, said. The exercise is being conducted alternatively in India and Maldives since 2009. The seventh edition of the joint […]
Three councillors have been suspended for meeting India’s ambassador to the Maldives, days after authorities banned local officials from hosting foreign diplomats without prior consent. The decision to punish the Gaafu Alifu representatives was made at a board meeting of the Local Government Authority on Wednesday. The Maldives Independent has seen a copy of the […]
Our current president is ensuring that the foreign relations between Maldives and China remain tight. According to our National Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 more than 1.2m tourists arrived in the Maldives. Among them, 575,176 tourists were from Europe. Furthermore, 572,336 of the tourists were from Asia and among them, China contributed 324,326 tourists to […]
A landmark China-Maldives free trade agreement signed last week will help pave the way for the “revolutionary development”, President Abdulla Yameen said Tuesday night. In his first public remarks on the controversial FTA, Yameen urged the public to work with his administration to achieve development goals and complete flagship projects. “As a result of the […]
Less than half of the Maldives parliament was present for a vote that saw a record-breaking budget get the green light with no debate or scrutiny. Opposition lawmakers have been boycotting parliamentary proceedings since the contentious disqualification of defectors from the ruling party was used to quash a majority-backed no-confidence motion against parliament speaker Abdulla […]
One of the new developments in the park – ‘Rasrani View’. MIHAARU PHOTO / NISHAN ALI The housing ministry on Wednesday declared that it is working to make president Abdulla Yameen’s vision to “bring winter to the Maldives” this month with the special Winter Corner being developed in Rasrani Bageecha. President Yameen had unveiled Rasrani […]
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak is to visit the Maldives next week. Malaysia’s Foreign Ministry said that the prime minister will depart for the Maldives right after his visit to Sri Lanka, from the 17th to 19th of December. However, it did not reveal any information on the duration of the visit. Furthermore, the Ministry […]
New Delhi’s outdated strategic mentality cannot “dampen the strong enthusiasm” in the region for deepening cooperation with Beijing, Chinese state media has claimed. The Global Times, an excitable tabloid that often reflects party thinking, said the formal handover of Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port to China on a 99-year lease had stirred alarm in New Delhi. […]
Maldivian ambassador Mohamed Hussain Shareef (L) chairs the 293rd meeting of the Colombo Plan Council in Sri Lanka. PHOTO/EMBASSY OF MALDIVES The Maldives on Tuesday was appointed chair of the Colombo Plan Council for the third time. Colombo Plan is an international organization founded in 1950, which works to establish bilateral relations to provide foreign […]