India will be at Maldives side in transition to democracy

India will be at the side of Maldives in the island nation's transition to a fully functioning democracy, said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in his address to the People's Majlis of the island nation on Saturday. The Prime Minister paid a one day State Visit to Maldives after attending the 17th SAARC Summit in Addu City in the south of the Maldives from 10-11 November. The Prime Minister was accorded a rare honour by the Maldivian Majlis to address it.

" India will be at your side in your transition to a fully functional democracy. We will assist the Majlis by way of training, formation of rules and regulations and any other assistance that you may desire"  the Prime Minister said speaking to the 77 member Majlis elected in 2009 under the country's new Constitution.

The Prime Minister said the speaker of the Lok Sabha will be visiting Maldives soon and the formation of India-Maldives Parliamentary Friendship Groups in the People's Majlis and in the Indian Parliament augur well for the development of relations between the two Parliaments.

Prime Minister Singh noted in his address that students from all across Maldives live and study in Thiruvananthapuram, Bengaluru and Mysore. They constitute the largest expatriate Maldivian community abroad. The recent establishment of an Indian Cultural Centre in Male' will further promote people-to-people contacts and facilitate the visits of Maldivian artists and scholars to India." We will be happy to facilitate more intensive exchange between the Maldives National University and universities in India" Singh said.

Earlier during the visit, Prime Minister Singh and President Nasheed have signed a historic Framework Agreement on Cooperation for Development, which is a blueprint for cooperation in areas such as trade and investment, tourism, food security, fisheries technology, new and renewable energy, communications and enhancing connectivity by air and sea.

During the visit, India has also offered a Standby Credit Facility of 100 million US dollars to help Maldives to meet its short term budgetary needs and enable import essential commodities.

India has also extended a Line of Credit of 40 million US dollars for the construction of houses. Prime Minister left the Maldives yesterday afternoon.