After underwater meeting, Maldivian prez coming to India

Colombo: Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed is travelling on Wednesday on a five-day official visit to India at the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Besides the review of the state of India-Maldives bilateral relations, Nasheed’s special focus in his talks with Dr Singh would be a common approach on climate change issues ahead of December’s Copenhagen Climate Summit.

Mohamed Nasheed/ Photo credit: The Hindu

According to diplomatic sources, Indian companies, coinciding with the visit, will announce plans to establish major infrastructure facilities in the northern Maldives that could attract investment to the tune of $400-500 million.

The projects identified include an international airport, a port with trans-shipment facility, and tourism development. “Work by the Indian companies interested in development of infrastructure services is to begin in the near future,” a senior Maldivian official associated with the visit said.

In the course of his stay, Nasheed will be the guest of honour at the Delhi High Level Conference on Climate Change and Technology Transfer.

The Maldives, with little over a quarter million population, is a nation of 1,192 coral islets that lie on average just 1.5 metres above sea level. It sees itself as the front-line State in the debate on climate change that can offer valuable insights to the world grappling for solutions to global warming.

Accompanied by a large delegation of ministers, MPs, and mediapersons, Nasheed, besides his engagements in New Delhi, will visit Hyderabad.

Nasheed, who became President of the Maldives in November 2008, is visiting India for the second time. He took over the reins of the country after emerging victorious in the first multi-party, multi-candidate elections in the Maldives’ 44-year-old independent history.

The sources said that apart from reiterating the commitment to strong bilateral relations, both sides will review ongoing cooperation in the field of health, education, economic projects and developmental assistance. “They may agree that the Government of India would provide necessary assistance to renovate and strengthen the Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital (IGMH) in Male,” the source said.

Renewable energy

India may also agree to support the development of a group of islands/atolls by establishing a renewable energy project in a bid to assist Maldives towards moving to a carbon neutral economy by 2020.

Indian companies are also entering the affordable housing construction sector in the Maldives as part of the Maldivian government’s plan to provide affordable houses to the poor.

The State Bank of India will be extending a credit facility of $100 million to the Government of Maldives in addition to the $100 million standby credit extended by New Delhi towards the end of December 2008.

Maldives cabinet meets underwater

The cabinet met at the bottom of the sea on Saturday to frame an SOS to global leaders to save their atoll nation from being submerged by the rising seas.

A declaration approved at the end of a 25-minute meeting, presided by President Mohammad Nasheed, called for global action to combat climate change. It will be presented at the Copenhagen climate summit in December.

“We should come out of Copenhagen with a deal that will ensure that everyone will survive,” said Nasheed. “Maldives is a frontline state and what happens to us today will happen to others tomorrow.”

Maldivian President Mohammed Nasheed signs a document in an under-water meeting of the Cabinet in Girifushi, near Male/ Photo credit: The Hindu

The declaration said global warming was sending the ice caps crashing into the sea, leading to sharp rise in water levels, the Presidential spokesperson said over phone from Male.

The 42-year-old President of this picturesque group of coral islands and his Cabinet colleagues, wearing face masks, scuba-dived to their underwater rendezvous held six metres below the surface of a lagoon off Girifushi island, about 35 nautical miles from capital Male. They spent 45 minutes sitting across tables immersed to the sea bottom.

Nasheed and his colleagues used white boards and hand signals to communicate their decisions. While the Ministers had undergone diving courses for the past two months to keep their underwater date, Nasheed was an experienced diver, the spokesperson said.

The Maldivian Ministers went to these extraordinary lengths as a United Nations panel on climate change had warned that even a rise in sea levels between 18 and 60 cm would submerge the islands by 2100.

Maldives comprises more than 100 islands scattered over 800 km across the equator, and 90% of them are just a metre above sea level.