Maldives is known as a luxury holiday destination with pristine white sand beaches, secluded resorts. The country has become a center of geopolitical competition.

After coming to power, Maldivian President Mohammad Muijju ordered the departure of a contingent of Indian troops stationed in the country to assist in maritime patrolling. After that, Malaysia signed a military agreement with Beijing. With this, New Delhi began to view China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean with suspicion. India has always viewed Maldives as an area of ​​its sphere of influence.

In this situation, the President of Maldives Mohammad Muijju has started a five-day visit to India. He reached Delhi airport on Sunday afternoon. His wife Sajida Mohammad is also traveling with Muijju.

Muijju is scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Draupadi Murmu during this visit. The visit of Muijju, who has taken the 'anti-India' path as the President of Maldives, is considered to be diplomatically significant.

Muijju, who is visiting India, thanked India profusely for providing huge financial support to his country. The comments, which came after his meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Monday, were seen as a sign of a nearly 180-degree turn from the Muijju government's vehement anti-India policies.

After today's meeting at Hyderabad House in Delhi, Modi said, there were detailed discussions between the two countries to advance cooperation in many sectors including economic connectivity, connectivity, cultural connect.

India's Ministry of External Affairs also said that Prime Minister Modi has accepted President Muijju's invitation to visit the Maldives next year to celebrate 60 years of India-Maldives diplomatic ties, or Diamond Jubilee.

After the meeting, President Muijju said, 'Maldives and India's friendship will remain unbroken due to common commitment to peace and development in our two countries and the entire region.'

Observers see it as an important 'turn-around' for the government of Mohamed Muijzu, who came to power on the back of an intense 'India out' campaign during the election campaign in the Maldives last year.

Meanwhile, news agency ANI quoted President Muizju as saying, "The Government of India is giving us financial assistance of Rs. 3,000 crore ($360 million) and has also decided to negotiate a 'currency swap' of $400 million at the bilateral level. I express my thanks and gratitude to India.'

President Muijju also commented that this decision will be helpful in dealing with the foreign currency or foreign reserve crisis that Maldives is currently facing.

In an e-mail interview given to the BBC before arriving in India on Sunday, President Muijju said that India is aware of the financial situation of his country and India will definitely help them in trying to get out of that crisis.

After his official visit to India began on Monday and his meeting with Prime Minister Modi, that assumption proved true and India is extending a helping hand to the Maldives, which is facing severe financial crisis.

Muijju's first state visit to India

This is President Muijju's first state visit to India after coming to power in Maldives last year. However, four months ago, he came to Delhi as an invited guest to attend Narendra Modi's third swearing-in ceremony as Prime Minister.

President of India Draupadi Murmu officially welcomed President Muijju at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi this morning (Monday) after arriving in Delhi on Sunday evening.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was also present when he was given the guard of honour.

After paying his respects at the Rajghat, the mausoleum of India's national hero as per tradition, he met with Prime Minister Modi at Hyderabad House in Delhi.

A joint statement was issued by the two countries after the meeting. At a joint press conference between the two leaders at Hyderabad House, Prime Minister Modi described India as a 'close friend' of the island nation.

Prime Minister Modi said his government's 'Neighbourhood First' policy has made India a 'first responder' to any commodity crisis – that is, jumping to their aid before anyone else.

"Whether it's providing basic necessities, sending vaccines during the Covid pandemic or providing drinking water - India has always behaved like a good neighbour," he reminded.

Narendra Modi also mentioned that Maldives has an important role in ensuring geopolitical security in the Indian Ocean region.

3000 Crore 'Currency Swap'

Among the reasons President Muijju thanked India after the bilateral meeting, the most notable was a currency swap agreement worth Rs 3,000 crore (equivalent to about $40 billion).

Over the past few months, the Maldives' foreign reserves have plummeted - the latest data shows that their reserves are now at just $440 million.

With this amount of foreign currency, Maldives will be able to meet import expenses for the next one and a half months.

This is undoubtedly a big crisis for the country which has to import almost everything from fuel oil to rice and wheat from abroad.

Last month, global agency Moody's also downgraded the Maldives' credit rating, saying that the country's 'default risk' - that is, the possibility of defaulting or defaulting on foreign debt - has risen sharply.

As a result of the financial agreement reached between the two countries in Delhi today, the two sides will be able to pay the 'interest' and 'principal' of their debt – both in their own currencies instead of dollars, within a specified time frame.

As a result, the heavy pressure on the Maldives' dollar reserves at the moment will be alleviated. President Muijju himself admitted that today.

Apart from this, it was agreed that the 'RUPE' payment card which has been launched by the consortium of different Indian banks 'National Payments Corporation of India' as an alternative to MasterCard and Visa - will soon be usable in Maldives.

India has also promised to help them in the development of various infrastructure projects in the Maldivian capital, Greater Male.

'India knows about our problems'

However, before leaving for Delhi, President Muijju told the BBC that he was confident that India would come forward to help them in their economic crisis.

He expressed this confidence in an email interview before he left for a five-day long tour of India.

In the interview given to BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan, he said, India is fully aware of our financial situation.

"India is one of the largest development partners of the Maldives - and is always ready to ease our burdens, find better options and solutions to the challenges we face," he remarked.

Analysts say his softening of tone towards Delhi is a "complete reversal" of the vehement anti-India 'India Out' campaign that Mohammed Muiz came to power with last year.

President Muiz, however, did not want to comment openly on the so-called anti-India sentiments to the BBC.

But he only said, 'If there is any difference between us, we are sure that it can be resolved through open discussion and mutual understanding.'

President Muiz also made it clear in the interview that Maldives is not considering approaching the IMF (International Monetary Fund) to address its economic crisis.

"We have our own and nati