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Duration A discussion panel: The South Asia dish: Menu for Growth, where it was also present member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Namal Rajapaksa, Mariya Didi, when he wondered whether India or China was a better long -term partner for Maldives. “
MP of Sri Lanka, Namal Raja Paksa and former Minister of Maldives, Uza Mariya Didi, at the Rising Bharat 2025 summit.
With China arriving in southern Asia with investments and even sending their forces to the region, how do the countries of the region see to India? “India is our 911 call, it has always happened with us as the older sister,” said Uza Mariya Didi, former Minister of Defense, Republic of Maldives, at Rise Bharat Summit 2025 of CNN-News18 on Tuesday.
Duration an discussion panel – The South Asia dish: Growth menu – Where he was also present member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka, Namal Raja Paksa, Mariya Didi, when asked if or China was a better long -term partner for Maldives, said: “India, always.”
Raja Paksa also said that, although China has helped Sri Lanka with the growth of infrastructure, India has become the largest partner in the country with investments in the last 4 to 5 years. When asked who trusts more as a partner, Rajapaksa said what matters is what investment gives the best performance for the people of Sri Lanka. However, he added: “There was a time when China invested a lot in Sri Lanka and we communicated with India, but the country was not in a position to help us 20-30 years ago. But in the last 5 to 10 years, the largest investor in Sri Lanka has been India. 20 percent of tourists comes to Sri Lanka de India.”
Speaking about the pro-china position of the president of Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu, Mariya Didi said he found that the current foreign policy of his “very confused” country. “India has been just one step away from coming to us when we need it. With the first policy of the neighborhood of his Prime Minister Modi, and his maturity, our countries have kept our relations too many people,” he said.
Speaking about the campaign of “India” in Maldivas, Mariya Didi said: “There was a phase in which people were confused with the narratives of social networks. But it is not at the level of people. It was only a political movement, where they tried to keep the minds of people from the local problem. But that is no longer there.
Trump rates
Both Mariya Didi and Namal Raja Paksa agreed that it was time for the countries in southern Asia to work with each other, special in the current situation with the president of the United States, Donald Trump, tariffs largely. “People move from WTO and the country and focus more on regional cooperation. It is the best for the whole country, it is time to build regional cooperation,” Rajapaksa said.
When asked about how Maldives can make sure they are not dominated by world powers, being in the center of the maritime trade, Mariya Didi said that the countries of the southern regions of Asia have worked together in the past. “It is important that we share resources, we share information, so the world sees us as a region in the Indian Ocean.”