'These underwater details are our property': Muizzu says Maldives will not renew hydrographic survey pact with India

President Mohamed Muizzu has said that Maldives will not renew the hydrographic survey pact with India and that his country is working to establish a 24X7 monitoring system for its waters this month to ensure control of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) despite its significantly large area.

According to news portal Edition.mv, Muizzu, while speaking at a ceremony at one of the islands that he was visiting on Monday, said Maldives Ministry of Defence is making efforts to obtain the facilities required for conducting the hydrographic surveys by the country itself.

“We decided not to renew the agreement entered into with the Indian government to scan and acquire all insights into our underwater bodies. All these underwater details are our property, our heritage,” Edition.mv quoted President Muizzu as saying on Tuesday.

He claimed that the Maldives earlier needed to purchase all such maps and survey data from India.

“This will allow Maldives to conduct the underwater surveys of the country by ourselves. We will then acquire all insights of our underwater features and prepare charts, they will be drawn by us,” Muizzu added.

The recent development follows China’s signing of a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives, aiming to provide complimentary military aid to strengthen bilateral relations.

Ever since pro-China Muizzu assumed office last year, India-Maldives relations have suffered a setback. Shortly after taking office in November 2023, Muizzu pledged to uphold Maldives’ sovereignty, beginning with the demand for the withdrawal of Indian troops.

Muizzu’s announcement coincides with the presence of a Chinese research vessel around Male for about a week and just outside Maldives’ Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) for over a month.

Under the administration of former president Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, the Maldives signed an agreement with the Indian government for conducting hydrographic surveys of the country’s underwater features.

This is the first time that Muizzu has publicly commented about the hydrographic survey plans of his government. His government has earlier announced that it reviewing more than 100 agreements signed with India by the previous regimes.

The most recent hydrographic survey carried out in collaboration with India’s Hydrography Office was launched in January 2021 as part of the agreement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 during his visit to Maldives.

According to Edition.mv, the former president had obtained the approval of the parliament to facilitate this hydrography services in the Maldives and confer the facility to the Defence Ministry.

Meanwhile, two days earlier, Muizzu, while visiting yet another atoll on Saturday said, his government has vowed to begin work on and establish a 24X7 monitoring system of the Maldivian waters in March.

Speaking with the locals of Raa Meedhoo, the President highlighted that the area of sea is twice as large as the entire land mass of the Maldives and noted that the Maldives has not been in control of its Exclusive Economic Zone despite its significantly large area.

“Although the EEZ is part of our territory, we did not have the capacity to monitor the area. God willing, our work (to monitor the Maldivian waters) will commence in March. We will establish a 24X7 monitoring system during this month,” Sun.mv quoted the President as saying.

The Maldives Coastguard currently seeks regular assistance from the militaries of neighbouring countries, and carries out some of the special patrolling operations with foreign allies, added the report.

With inputs from agencies