Cricket diplomacy on Modi’s agenda during Maldives trip

New Delhi: Cricket is the latest emphasis in India-Maldives ties, with Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih requesting India for assistance in developing cricket in his tiny archipelago nation. New Delhi is also considering a move to construct a cricket stadium in the maritime nation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting the Maldives on June 8 and 9, a visit during which projects including a coastal radar surveillance system and a training facility for the Maldives security forces will be inaugurated by remote by PM Modi and the Maldivian President. India has also “resolved to mutual satisfaction” with the Maldives the issue relating to stationing of two Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) there that had reportedly been gifted by India earlier. The issue had become a controversy during the tenure of the previous president Abdulla Yameen when bilateral ties had considerably soured. PM Modi will also deliver an address to the Maldivian Parliament, known as the Majlis on June 8.

Foreign secretary Vijay Gokhale told reporters that the Maldives President has expressed interest in development of Cricket in his nation and formation of a Maldives cricket team. The Maldives has also “requested for a coaching programme” for Maldivian cricketers in both India and the Maldives and also for training of “coaches, umpires, scorers and match referees”. The Indian Government has already given cricket kits to the south-western maritime neighbour. New Delhi is also considering construction of a cricket stadium in the Maldives under the Line of Credit (LoC) extended by India to that nation. A team from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also visited the Maldives last month as part of the Indian initiative.

India has already pledged close to US$ 200 million as budgetary support to the Maldives with US$ 50 million for budgetary purposes already having been disbursed. India has also offered a Line of Credit of US$ 800 million to the Maldives under which three projects are being planned.

These are water supply and sewerage projects in 36 islands inhabited in the Maldives, an urban centre at Addu in southern Maldives and an SME finance project. There are about 14 development projects for assistance being considered by India in the Maldives. Establishment of a ferry service from Kochi in Kerala to the Maldives is also being considered. A facility for students in the Maldives for travel by speedboats between various islands in the archipelago nation are also being considered.

Under Maldivian President Solih, India and the Maldives are now the closest of friends once again. PM Modi had on November 17 last year attended the swearing-in ceremony of President Solih. The Maldivian President has strengthened ties with New Delhi and reversed the widely-perceived slant towards Beijing that the Maldives had adopted during the controversial tenure of his predecessor Abdullah Yameen. President Solih’s assuming of office following his victory in the Presidential polls against then president Abdulla Yameen last year had come as a huge relief for New Delhi. Mr. Yameen was openly pro-China and had become a thorn in New Delhi’s flesh.

Meanwhile, after completing his visit to the Maldives, PM Modi will also be visiting Sri Lanka on June 9, in what Foreign Secretary Gokhale described as a “message of solidarity” to Sri Lanka after the horrific bomb blasts there in April this year. During his visit to the island nation, PM Modi will meet President Maithripala Sirisena, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe as well as Opposition leader and former president Mahinda Rajapaksa. With China maintaining its strong influence in Sri Lanka, interestingly, India, Japan and Sri Lanka have already inked a trilateral MoU for development of the East Container Terminal of the Colombo port. India has already been constructing thousands of houses for ethnic “up-country” Tamils in the island nation.