India will host Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom and United States Secretary for Defence Ashton Carter in the coming week. Yameen’s second visit to India in last two years is seen as an effort to mend strained ties with New Delhi, while Carter’s visit will forge new US-India defence collaboration in joint production.
Yameen will arrive in New Delhi on Sunday for a two day visit. He will have bilateral talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday during which some agreement will be also signed.
India and Maldives relation has seen some up and down over the past few years mainly due to domestic political situation in Maldives following the arrest of former President Mohammad Nasheed. Yameen government’s growing interest in China compared to India and the cancelled GMR deal to make the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport in Male ha also caused some heart burn. But India has been patient and cautious in its reactions to the developments in Maldives and all responses from New Delhi have been in measured tone.
This is the second visit of President Yameen to India in the last two years, the last time he was here for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in May 2014. Though several other high level visits from his side has taken place, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is yet to visit Male. In between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishnakar have visited Male. However, Yameen’s visit to New Delhi is seen as an effort to mend ties with India and create an enabling environment for Modi’s visit to Maldives.
Due to its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, Maldives remains crucial to India for martime security aspect. India, Sri laka and Maldives are part of a trilateral maritime security agreement and PM Modi during his visit to Seychelles last year activated the first of the Indian Navy’s 32 coastal surveillance radar (CSR) stations. This marked the beginning of an India-led maritime surveillance project which will have stations in Seychelles, Maldives, Mauritius and Sri lanka. Negotiations are on to set up at least 10 more in Sri lanka. The project will enable the Indian Navy to monitor movements of ships in the Indian Ocean.
India will also host the United States Secretary of Defence Ashton Carter next week, first in Goa then in New Delhi. A day before his departure, Carter termed India as a key growing partner and that US-India relationship is destined to be one of the most significant partnerships of the 21st century.
“Over the course of my years at the Defense Department, I have seen a remarkable convergence of US and Indian interests - what I call a strategic handshake. As the United States is reaching west in its rebalance, India is reaching east, in Prime Minister Modi’s `Act East’ policy that will bring it farther into the Indian and Pacific Oceans,” Carter said on Saturday during a seminar in New York.
He added that the Framework for the US-India Defense Relationship signed last year is going to guide the defense relationship between two countries for the next decade. He added that under Make in India campgain a lot many US defence manufacturing companies will collaborate with Indian partners for co-production and co-development of India’s defense capabilities.
Carter and Defense Minister Parrikar will discuss the progress made in aircraft carrier, jet fighter, and jet engine collaboration besides talking some new projects. Parriker will also host Carter on board Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya.
“There is so much potential here, which is why we’re seizing every opportunity we can. last year, the Modi government reached out to the United States to discuss the possibility of launching joint production on a new platform, to build on the work lockheed Martin and Indian industry achieved on the C-130J project, and what Boeing and Indian industry will achieve in the production of the Apache and Chinook helicopters India - recently purchased,” he said.
A team of US department of defence and industry is already in India looking at the potential production of twin-engined fighter aircraft. “This week, we will also conclude several important agreements, including one on commercial shipping information exchange, which will make many new things possible in the future,” Carter said.