Meeting the Indian press today on his two day visit to India, President Mohamed Nasheed said his visit was a success and he has had fruitful and constructive dialogue with the Indian leadership and the government.
The President, over the past two days, met with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Indian External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna, Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance Sonia Gandhi, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon and other senior officials of the Indian Government.
The President said the discussions at the meetings with the Indian leadership and the government “centered around greater economic cooperation and connectivity within the Indian Ocean mainly through a ferry system.”
He said the concept of connectivity within the Indian Ocean was agreed upon by leaders of the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) some ten years ago. Further, on the project, he said:
“We again want to see how we may be able to more rapidly start implementing the project.”
On the development of SAARC, the President underscored the need to “get SAARC moving more rapidly and more forcefully, mainly, through empowering the secretariat and granting more powers and more leverage to the Secretary-General.”
He made the suggestion to other SAARC member countries as he did during the meetings with the Indian government.
Meeting the Indian press, President Nasheed congratulated India and more specifically Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh for his “very constructive role in Cancun” climate summit in December.
“Cancun COP16 was more of a success than Copenhagen, partly, we believe, because of Jairam Ramesh’s more positive engagement and the India’s ability to get the whole conference and the whole process moving,” he added.
President Nasheed is visiting India to attend the “World Conference on Recreating South Asia: Democracy, Social Justice and Sustainable Development” being held in New Delhi. The President addressed the inaugural session of the conference on Wednesday.
He said the conference topics of democracy and sustainable development were of importance to the Maldives, as it looks forward to consolidate democracy after ushering a multi-party democracy two years ago.
The President responded to questions from the Indian press on issues including the Maldivian political situation, regional cooperation, rise of pro-democracy movements in the Middle East, climate change and security.
The President also gave an interview to Indian television station NDTV’s popular show “Walk the Talk” during the visit.
