Defence Minister Hassan Rasheed visited the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the Maldives today.
During the visit, Hassan Rasheed met with the UAE Embassy’s Chargé d'Affaires, Heba Al Jneibi.
In a post on X, the UAE Embassy said that discussions focused on further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two nations.
The Defence Minister’s visit comes amid public backlash over the government’s decision to sell part of Rasmalé to UAE-based Eagle Hills.
While the government maintains that Rasmalé is being leased for 99 years, Mohamed Alabbar’s Eagle Hills has said that if the property is sold before the initial 99-year lease expires, a new 99-year lease term will commence.
The commercial terms to sell 500 hectares of Rasmalé—an area currently being reclaimed at Fushidhiggaru lagoon using state funds—to Eagle Hills were signed on September 21. Efforts are underway to sign the permanent project agreement on November 11, which coincides with the Maldives' Republic Day.
The government’s deal to sell Rasmalé follows a previous pledge by President Mohamed Muizzu, who had vowed that not a single grain of sand from the site would be leased or given to foreign parties, even for a single day.
"Every grain of sand in every piece of land reclaimed there [Ras Malé] is sand that belongs to the Maldivian people. It is not land that will be leased or given for free to any foreign party for even a single day," President Muizzu had previously stated.
