India’s high commissioner didn’t reach for the usual diplomatic construction when asked about the Thilamalé bridge, now slipped to 2027. “If you ask me whether we are satisfied with the pace: no.”
G Balasubramanian presented his credentials three months after the state visit that reset relations with New Delhi. On the eve of India’s Independence Day, he spoke to the Maldives Independent about what the reset has delivered.
On the debt relief announced last year as a 40 per cent cut in repayments, he set out an explanation: the US$800 million credit line was capped at the amount actually drawn, cancelling the Maldives’ liability on money it had never received.
Also in the interview: why India wants the Maldives borrowing in rupees, a free trade agreement both sides now say could be done by December, and the commodities quota that keeps flowing even when India bans exports to everyone else. https://maldivesindependent.com/qa/debt-trade-and-the-bridge-indias-envoy-on-exceptions-new-delhi-makes-for-maldives-dce0
