Malé/New Delhi: Signalling a thaw in recent hostility towards India ever since “pro-China” Mohamed Muizzu became the President of the island nation, Maldives has renewed its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with India for the training of its civil services officers.
India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr S. Jaishankar, and the Maldives’ Foreign Minister, Moosa Zameer, renewed the MoU for capacity building of 1000 Maldives civil services officers during the period 2024-2029 as part of the development partnership discussions between both the nations on August 9, 2024, in Malé, Maldives.
The MoU for capacity-building programmes was signed between the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), of the Government of India and the Maldives Civil Service Commission on June 8, 2019.
Offering details, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs stated in New Delhi that by 2024, the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) achieved the “remarkable milestone” by fulfilling the mandate of training a total of 1000 Civil Servants including Permanent Secretaries, Secretary Generals and High-Level Delegates from Maldives over a total of 32 Capacity Building Programmes in Field Administration for the Civil Servants of Maldives including one programme for Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and one for Information Commission Office of Maldives (ICOM).
Recognizing the success of this collaboration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maldives, requested the renewal of the MoU for another five years.
On August 9, 2024, the MoU was officially renewed, committing to train another 1,000 Maldivian civil servants by 2029. “This renewed partnership will continue to enhance the capabilities of the civil servants of the island nation in public policy, governance, and field administration, further strengthening the ties between India and the Maldives,” the MEA stated.
The NCGG is committed to fostering knowledge exchange and collaboration on public policy and governance across several countries. Its mid-career capacity-building programmes emphasize citizen-centric governance, improving service delivery, and promoting innovations in governance. These programmes also showcase India’s best practices in the Digital Empowerment of Citizens and Digital Transformation of Institutions.
It may be mentioned that under the guidance of the Ministry of External Affairs, the NCGG has successfully conducted capacity-building programmes for civil servants from Bangladesh, Tanzania, Gambia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia, along with multi-country programmes for Latin American countries and Forum for India–Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IOR) countries.
– global bihari bureau
