‘Security of India, Sri Lanka and Maldives is interconnected’

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What happens in the Indian Ocean has lot of implications for Africa, Australia, Far East, Indian sub-continent and Gulf as well, and, therefore, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives are working closely to secure the ocean from terrorists and pirates, foreign minister Ahmed Naseem of
Maldives says in an interview on the occasion of his first visit to India after assuming the office

Q: What did you discuss in your meetings with the Indian ministers of environment, external affairs, and commerce and industry?
A: We discussed bilateral relations and political developments in Maldives and progress in strengthening the pillars of democracy, which is the biggest challenge, because we never had a democratic government in Maldives. So after a long period of dictatorship it takes a while for people to begin to absorb what democracy is all about. Every election platform is also enhancing and strengthening democracy. So I explained the democratic-building processes to the Indian ministers. I discussed environmental issues with Mr Jairam Ramesh. I believe that there has to be a little bit of a push from all like-minded countries in order to get the pledged money for adaptation measures for small island states and others. It should be coming fast to these countries without much bureaucracy. We are confident that our close working relationship with India will pave the way for early measures to be taken by European Union and others to find the right mechanisms to disburse the funds that are available while taking care to prevent abuse of use of funds.

Q: Is there scope for improving maritime security cooperation between
India and Maldives, particularly in the context of piracy in the Indian
Ocean?
A: Security of India, Sri Lanka and Maldives is interconnected and we work closely to monitor the situation in the Indian Ocean. What happens in the Indian Ocean has lot of implications to Africa, Australia, Far East, Indian sub-continent and Gulf as well. We share India’s concerns about Indian Ocean security but we have concerns of our own, too, insofar as piracy is concerned. I think this season again we have, at the moment, 27 Somali pirates in the Maldivian jails and we are working on a method to repatriate them to Somalia. I sought the government of India’s advice. The problem is that the Somali pirates are getting closer and closer to Maldives. We are dependent on tourism and any such incidents are detrimental to our industry and economy. These are very worrying issues but Maldivian and Indian coast guards are working closely to prevent incidents of piracy. There are courts in Kenya and Seychelles to deal with piracy issues but we in Maldives do not intend to do anything like that. We don’t want to get into that kind of situation because neither do we have the capacity nor the means to handle these issues.

Q: What will be some of the key focus areas at the 17th Saarc summit to be held in Maldives later this year?
A: We will concentrate a lot on trade and transport. That is what we lack within the region. It is easy for a Maldivian to come to Delhi but difficult to go to Dhaka or to Karachi or Nepal. The key issue for development is a proper transport network. Unless there are cross-border transport links, trade won’t improve. We have only three per cent trade within the Saarc region out of the total trade that we do, so this is not a strategy for development of the region. With the growth of India, the countries around it can benefit from its economic growth. Other counties can be a cluster of development with India in the centre. We should make full use of, and derive maximum benefit from, the development taking place in India.

Q: Maldives is only one of three countries (besides France and Qatar) to recognise the Transitional National Council of Libya, which is fighting against Col. Muammar Gaddafi’s government. What prompted that decision?
A: The Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) started as a human rights organisation. The government today has human rights at its core. So wherever human rights abuses take place, after proper analysis we take issue with it and we will be proactive in this. We won the election to the UN human rights council with the highest vote in the history of the UN. So we feel there is an obligation on our part to protect the rights of people who are deprived. We feel that democratic values are what will bring peace and security to the world, especially West Asia. With the emergence of democracy, stability will eventually come.

Q: Does Maldives intend to normalise its relations with Israel?
A: It all depends on the behaviour of Israel, isn’t it? (smiles) It will be very difficult for us, a 100 per cent Muslim country to be so when acts of aggression are carried out against brotherly Muslim states. We have relations with Israel and it started improving after 1994. We feel that without having the ability to talk to the government of Israel, we, as a small nation, would not be able to make any contribution. So we have to have relations with every country whether we like it or not. At the same time we take stands on any issues where human rights is involved. So these are all issues we have to seriously consider. I believe we need to be in a position to talk to the government of Israel. It’s a reality that state of Israel exists and it will continue to exist and we have to deal with it accordingly. Being hostile to any country is not productive.

Q: Maldives has hosted talks between the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban. How did that come about?
A: They were not invited, they just came. Maldives is a good environment to come and have a chat you know (smiles). I think there were two or three meetings but they were not sponsored by the government. They came on a holiday, sat down, discussed issues, and went back. None of the people who came to Maldives were on terrorist lists so we need not have issue with that.