India's Modi renews ties with Maldives
Regional powerhouse India had been concerned that its small, yet strategically located neighbour was drifting towards the orbit of its rival China following the 2023 election of President Mohamed Muizzu on an anti-India platform.
Since coming to office, Muizzu has secured the withdrawal of a small contingent of Indian military personnel who operated search-and-rescue aircraft in the archipelago.
But he has since toned down his anti-India rhetoric, and on Friday he touted the two nations' collaboration on security and trade.
"India has long stood as the Maldives' closest and most trusted partner," Muizzu said in a banquet speech alongside Modi, whom he met with twice last year.
"We deeply value the friendship of India and are grateful for the timely assistance your country has extended to us in moments of need," Muizzu added.
Shortly after his arrival on Friday, Modi unveiled a US$565 million credit line for the Maldives, which is facing a severe foreign exchange shortage despite its thriving tourism industry.
India also reduced annual repayments of an earlier credit line from US$51 million to US$29 million, and the two sides discussed a potential free-trade agreement.
Muizzu said the new credit line would bolster the Maldives' security forces, and improve healthcare, housing and education.
During his two-day trip, Modi also inaugurated a new defence ministry headquarters and several India-funded infrastructure projects, including roads and a 4,000-unit housing scheme.
Modi's visit had set "a clear path for the future of Maldives-India relations", Muizzu wrote on X on Saturday as the Indian leader left the capital Male after 60th Independence Day celebrations.
"Our relationship continues to grow, shaped by people-to-people ties and cooperation in various sectors," Modi wrote in his own post on X.
"India remains committed to supporting the aspirations of the Maldivian people."
Known for its luxury tourism and pristine beaches, the Maldives is also a geopolitical hotspot, with key global shipping lanes passing through its 1,192 islands, stretching across 800 kilometres of the equator.
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His son Jacob built on his legacy and established the business as Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee in 2014 – right when Singapore's third-wave coffee scene was taking off. More than just a coffee wholesaler and supplier, it also showcases coffee machines and equipment, and offers workshops and mobile coffee carts for events. Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee at VivoCity. PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO FILE Besides the flagship cafe in Stirling Road, Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee has nine other outlets, including four inside FairPrice supermarkets at VivoCity, The Woodleigh Mall, Balmoral Plaza and Parkway Parade. Its latest branch launched in April at One Raffles Place and serves a trendy yuzu coffee soda, packed with a strong double shot of ristretto. Yeo's Yeo's is known for its Asian drinks, including (from left) lemon barley, bandung and wintermelon. ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG People of a certain age know the brand by its full name – Yeo Hiap Seng. Now a zippier Yeo's, the brand is still going strong. It is known for Asian drinks and canned chicken curry. But founder Yeo Keng Lian started out making soya sauce. It was 1900 and he had a shop in Zhangzhou in Fujian province . He uprooted his family and came to Singapore in the 1930s, making and selling soya sauce. It became popular and he diversified his product range. The brand is the first in the world to put Asian drinks into Tetra Pak cartons and can chicken curry. Drinks such as chrysanthemum tea, wintermelon, lemon barley, bandung and grass jelly position it firmly as an Asian brand, as does its canned chicken curry, chicken rendang, sardines, and prawn and anchovy sambals. It also puts out instant noodles, kaya, and laksa and rendang pastes, among other offerings. With people wanting to eat and drink more healthily, its drinks also come in less sugar and sugar-free versions. To celebrate SG60, the brand has come up with a limited-edition Orchid Chrysanthemum Tea, which has orchid extract added to tea brewed with hang bai ju chrysanthemum flowers.
