Maldives and Australia hold first Senior Officials Talks

The governments of Maldives and Australia have convened for the inaugural Senior Officials Talks on Tuesday in Male’ marking a significant step in strengthening bilateral relations and enhancing cooperation between the two nations.

The Maldivian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary of Maldivian Foreign Ministry Fathimath Inaya while the Australian delegation was led by First Assistant Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia Sarah Storey.

Foreign Ministry said the talks focused on a number of thematic areas, including enhancing the strong bilateral relationship and cooperation between the Maldives and Australia with exploration of key mutual areas such as governance, democracy, trade, tourism, climate change, defense, security, and development cooperation.

Both sides recognized the importance of enhancing economic ties and agreed to explore opportunities for collaboration in various sectors, including development, trade, and tourism with senior officials emphasizing the potential for increased trade flows and investment, benefiting both economies and fostering sustainable development.

Maldives and Australia reaffirmed commitment to combatting climate change and promoting environmental conservation and in this trajectory, identified collaborative initiatives in attracting development partners for renewable energy and conservation as a priority area for future cooperation.

Highlighting the significance of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region, both parties showed dedication to work together on issues such as maritime and aviation security and safety, border management, 

In this regard, both sides agreed to explore policing collaboration between the Maldives Police Service and Australia to build resilience and stability in the region.

Apart from this, ways in which relationships between the Australian Border Force (ABF), Australia’s border law enforcement agency, and the border and civil maritime security (CMS) agencies of the Maldives could be strengthened to enhance border management and maritime domain awareness were discussed.

Particularly, the development of MOUs between respective agencies and a new initiative of the ABF College through the ABF-DFAT Indian Ocean Maritime Security Project was noted, which seeks to build capability in the CMS agencies of the Maldives through bespoke training that will focus on the UN Convention on Law of the Sea, maritime domain awareness, and leadership.

Tuesday’s talks concluded with officials of the Maldives and Australia committed to enhancing dialogue and cooperation, intending to hold regular talks in the future to further deepen the relationship.