The United States has agreed to provide four patrol vessels and is in talks to provide an aircraft to help the Maldives military monitor Maldivian territories.
The announcement was made by Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs of the US State Department Donald Lu. He paid an official visit to Maldives two weeks ago.
Lu made the announcement during a panel discussion of the “Indo-Pacific Strategic in Action: Commemorating the Second Anniversary” on Friday at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP).
Speaking during the panel discussion, Lu highlighted that Maldives might seem like a small country but it is a big country in terms of defense needs.
"Maldives is an island nation with 1,200 islands. The territorial sea covers 53,000 square kilometers. This is about the size of France. It is a massive country. We think of Maldives as a small country, but when it comes to defense needs, it is big," Lu said.
Safeguarding the sovereignty of such a large area is not easy, but it can be done through technology, training and equipment, he noted.
Lu said the United States has already started working on ways to provide real-time commercial satellite data to Maldives. He also highlighted the patrol boats and aircraft.
"Recently, we have committed to providing four patrol boats to the Maldivian Navy. Discussions are also underway to provide an aircraft. All these and more are needed to protect the region," he said.
Although Lu made the announcement during the panel discussion, the Maldives government has not revealed whether the US government had agreed to provide patrol boats to Maldives. The Defense Ministry could not be reached for comment.
However, the President's Office revealed that Lu paid a courtesy call on President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
"During the call, the Assistant Secretary of State expressed the US interest in expanding areas of cooperation with the Maldives, including trade and economic development, tourism cooperation and Indian Ocean Security," the President's Office stated.
The US government is already providing a lot of assistance in the defense sector, especially in training members of the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF).
President Muizzu also met with the Commander of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Admiral John Aquilino, earlier this year.
According to the President's Office, Commander Admiral John Aquilino reiterated his commitment to full assistance in strengthening capacity building in the defense force and affirmed the US support for the Maldives in maintaining peace and security while preserving sovereignty.
