Two agreements have been signed between Maldives and India to build capacity and cooperation between both countries. The agreements were signed at a ceremony held at southernmost Addu City on Saturday night.
The agreements were on the reciprocal recognition of COVID-19 vaccination certificate which will facilitate easier travel between Maldives and India, and Peering Agreement for connectivity between the Higher Education Network of Maldives and the National Knowledge Network of India.
At Saturday's ceremony, Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem and High Commissioner Munu Mahawar exchanged the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Ministry of Health of Maldives, and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, of India for Reciprocal Recognition of COVID Vaccination Certificate. The Foreign Ministry said the MoU will facilitate recognition of the Indian COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate issued through utilization of CoWIN platform and the Maldivian COVID-19 Digital Certificate.
A Peering Agreement between National Centre for Information Technology (NCIT) of the Republic of Maldives and National Informatics Centre (NIC) of the Republic of India was exchanged, followed by Launch of Connectivity between the Higher Education Network of Maldives (HNM) and the National Knowledge Network of India (NKN). The intention of the agreement is to recognize the general basis for a cooperative and collaborative working relationship between NCIT- Maldives and NIC India, in the areas of Information and Communications Technology. This would greatly improve connectivity and collaboration in an abundance of fields pursued by the Government of India including e-governance, digital distanced education, security, space, weather, and e-health.
An MoU will also be signed on capacity building and areas of cooperation between Maldives Police Service and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad. The MoU is for the establishment of mutual cooperation in the sphere of training management and exchange of trainers and trainees between the two institutes.
External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar is on an official visit at the invitation of Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid from 26 to 27 March 2022.
