The Maldives and India convened the second meeting of the High-Level Core Group (HLCG) in New Delhi on Monday, deepening bilateral cooperation across key sectors including trade, maritime security, connectivity, and defence.
This meeting follows the first meeting of the HLCG held in Male’ on 29 January 2025, which set the foundation for structured discussions on bilateral cooperation within the framework of the vision document “India and Maldives: A Vision for Comprehensive Economic and Maritime Security Partnership” set forth by President Dr Mohamed Muizzu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their meeting in October last year.
The delegation from Maldives was led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Abdulla Khaleel. The two sides held constructive discussions on a wide range of bilateral cooperation, including transport and connectivity, agriculture, fisheries, trade, economic, health, people to people linkages, capacity building and training, and defence and security cooperation.
The Maldivian delegation comprised senior officials from the President’s Office, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Construction, Housing and Infrastructure, Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Ministry of Finance and Planning and Ministry of Homeland Security and Technology.