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The Government of India gifts essential food items to the Maldives

The Government of India gifts essential food items to the Ma ... Image 1

 

12 May 2020

The Government of India has donated 580 tonnes of essential food items to the Maldives. This donation includes rice, wheat flour, sugar, yellow dhal, onion and potatoes. This food items arrived in Malé today, on an Indian Navy Vessel.

The Government has expressed its immense gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar, High Commissioner of India to the Maldives Sunjay Sudir, and the Government of India for this crucial assistance granted to the people of Maldives in this hour of need.

The donation of the essential food items signifies India’s extraordinary goodwill towards the people of the Maldives especially during such unprecedented times of a global pandemic. The Government of India, in addition to ensuring the undisrupted procurement and supply of essential commodities, has also gifted three months supply of essential medicines, helped to airlift 6.2 tonnes of medicines stuck in various cities in India, and helped to evacuate nine Maldivians out of Wuhan City, China. The Maldives was also one of the first recipients of a composite 14 member medical team that supported local health care professionals in sharing of experiences and best practices. Most recently, the Maldives has received USD 150 million from the USD 400 million currency swap agreement signed between the Maldives Monetary Authority and the Reserve Bank of India in July 2019. This currency swap agreement was part of the financial package extended from India to the Maldives, during the State Visit of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in December 2018.

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