India Maldives relation will not be affected by cancellation of GMR contract

President Dr. Mohamed Waheed Hassan has expressed confidence that confident that India Maldives relation will not be affected by the cancellation of the GMR contract by MACL.

The President made this remark in an interview to Press Trust of India (PTI). PTI stated that the President also termed the Male airport development contract signed with GMR by his predecessor Mohamed Nasheed’s government as “void ab initio’’.

 “We have always maintained that this is a commercial contract that was signed by Nasheed’s Government under dubious conditions. The actual signing was conducted despite Parliament’s objection,” Waheed said in an interview to PTI.

“We remain confident that India-Maldives relation will not be affected by the cancellation of GMR contract by MACL (Maldives Airports Company Ltd). In the meantime, two other contracts with Indian companies are been taken forward.

The bilateral relation, especially in the fields of military, trade and business, is even stronger than before,” he said.

The full Interview:

1) Now that Maldives is taking steps to terminate the contract with GMR, how do you think this will

affect India-Maldives bilateral relations?

We have always maintained that this is a commercial contract that was signed by the Mr.

Nasheed’s Government under dubious conditions.  The actual signing was conducted despite

parliament’s objection.

The Maldivian Government values and considers bilateral relationship between our two

countries important. We have made our position very clear to the Indian government, our

Foreign Minister met informally with the External Affairs Minister recently to explain the

position of the government and the difficulties the MACL and the government was facing on

the GMR issue.

We remain confident that India Maldives relation will not be affected by the cancellation of

the GMR contract by MACL. In the meantime two other contracts with Indian companies are

been taken forward. The bilateral relations between our two countries especially in the

fields of Military, trade and business is even stronger than before.

2) India has officially reacted sharply to the development. Don't you think this negatively affects the

image of Maldives as a safe investment destination?

I don’t think that Indian reaction is critical of the decision to terminate the GMR agreement.

This is only single event and India Government is fully aware of the sentiments of the

Maldives in this regard.

Termination of the GMR contract which was signed under dubious conditions only provides

assurances that Maldives is committed to a clean and safe business environment for foreign

investments.

3) During the President’s visit to India he had said Indian investments would be safe. What made you

change your stand vis-a-vis GMR Male Airport Project? As I have said earlier, our lawyers have advised us that the MACL’s contract with GMR is a

“void ab initio” contract, and for this reason it cannot be continued. There are many more

Indian investments in Maldives just to name a few, The State Bank of India, Thaj Chain of

Hotel, Tatuwa, Tata Housing and many others. All these businesses are doing well. Maldives

welcomes Indian investments. We have to ensure that they are in accordance with the laws

of this country.

4) There has been a lot of anti-India rhetoric in Maldivian political space including verbal attacks

against our High Commissioner in Male. What do you have to say about these developments?

All these rhetoric has its roots in the GMR contracts. Indian business continues business as

usual without interruption. Once again, this is not a India- Maldives business relationship

issue, it’s a GMR/MACL contractual issue. It is not proper for anyone to draw incorrect

conclusions regarding these two cases.

5) Is there a rethink in Maldives about India being a strong and close friend of Male?

India is the closest friend. It will always remain so without exception. This government will

see to it that more investors from India come to Maldives and that they continue to play an

active and beneficial role in the economy of this country.

6) What are your grievances with New Delhi, which was one of the first to recognise your

government?

We have no grievances with New Delhi.  The Maldivian Government believes that New Delhi

fully understand the situation of GMR/MACL issue. We also appreciate and respect the

Government of India. We also appreciate India’s understanding and support to Maldives

during the difficult days following the change of administration in February this year.

India truly is the closest friend and will remain so