Russia, Maldives and their Common Interest

Despite the long history of diplomatic relations, over 50 years, Abdulla Shahid has become the first Foreign Minister of the Republic of Maldives to visit Russia. In 2004, Russia and Maldives signed a protocol on political consultations. “We highly assessed the cooperation between our foreign ministries and agreed to make these consultations more regular,” Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov offered this assurance during talks with Abdulla Shahid.

“We know you as a very experienced diplomat and politician, who both focused on international problems and headed the parliament. Today, we hope to discuss ways of intensifying our interaction based on the very friendly and warm feelings that our peoples have for each other,” Lavrov also said at meeting held late June.

The official visit of Abdulla Shahid was to strengthen relations and explore some possibilities for trade and investment. Resultantly both ministers discussed, in detail, the status of and prospects for bilateral economic cooperation and noted the recent positive dynamics of trade, although the amount is still fairly modest for now.

Maldives demanded for Russian agriculture products, notably poultry while, on the other hand, economic operators planned to increase the import of marine bio resources from Maldives.

On the whole, Moscow and Male have agreed to build up and diversify trade and investment ties, in particular, considering the results of Maldives international investment forum in Male, which was attended by a Russian delegation.

Maldivian students could be trained in Russian universities as part of the agreement to holdfast the diplomatic relations. In addition, there are some prospects to develop tourism. Last year, the increase was substantial in the number of Russians visiting the Republic of Maldives and the trend also could be sustained.

As a further step towards improving the contractual legal framework, Moscow and Male signed an agreement on visa-free travel for Russian citizens, which will facilitate the growth of the tourist flow and, in general, the development of contacts between business circles and in other areas.  Russian Tourism Agency could not make figures available when contacted.

Moscow and Male hold similar positions on most international issues and share the sense of importance to further democratize international life and develop interstate communication based on international law and with reliance on the principles of the UN Charter.

According to reports by the United Nations, Maldives has an estimated population of 410, 000. For many centuries, the Maldivian economy has entirely depended on fishing and other marine products. Fishing remains the main occupation of the people and the government gives priority to the fisheries sector. The next developing industry is ocean tourism. The Republic of Maldives is an island country located in South Asia. It lies southwest of Sri Lanka and India, about 1,000 km from the continent of Asia.

Kester Kenn Klomegah
Kester Kenn Klomegah
MD Africa Editor Kester Kenn Klomegah is an independent researcher and writer on African affairs in the EurAsian region and former Soviet republics. He wrote previously for African Press Agency, African Executive and Inter Press Service. Earlier, he had worked for The Moscow Times, a reputable English newspaper. Klomegah taught part-time at the Moscow Institute of Modern Journalism. He studied international journalism and mass communication, and later spent a year at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. He co-authored a book “AIDS/HIV and Men: Taking Risk or Taking Responsibility” published by the London-based Panos Institute. In 2004 and again in 2009, he won the Golden Word Prize for a series of analytical articles on Russia's economic cooperation with African countries.