Maldives Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid on Wednesday said that the G20 leadership of India should be admired for the simple reason that India did not restrict G20 activities to the group alone but Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked the theme of sharing with everyone.

“G20 leadership of India should be admired for the simple reason that the Prime Minister has picked the theme of sharing with everyone. It’s not about G20, but also sharing. The theme he (PM Modi) has taken for G20 is how the rest of the world takes comfort in India’s Chairmanship of G20,” Maldives Foreign Minister Abdullah Shahid told ANI.

“India has the largest population in the world and it is a country full of talent being respected around the World. Even as chair of G20, India has not restricted the G20 activities to G20 alone. It has reached out to countries all around, large and small countries. So India has this habit of sharing its development, its wealth, and its knowledge,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has stated multiple times that India’s G20 Presidency is guided by the principle of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future’ and in line with ”Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam.” PM Modi has stated that India’s G20 Presidency has worked to “further global good and create a better planet.”

Abdullah Shahid said that India has earned a lot of respect and love from the countries of the world, including Maldives when it reached out during the COVID-19 pandemic with the Indian vaccine.

“As the UNGA President, I have traveled to many parts of the world. Everywhere I traveled, I heard the gratitude of those countries that india reached out to during the COVID pandemic with the Indian vaccine. And this kind of sharing has created a lot of respect, a lot of love for India around the world. And so is it in the Maldives,” the Foreign Minister of Maldives said.

He further said that the relationship has enormously flourished during President Solih’s government.

“We have confidence in India that every time the Maldives has to dial international 911 on an emergency, India has always responded. 1988, the mercenary attack in the Maldives undermining our sovereignty, the 2004 tsunami, the 2015 water crisis in Mali, and the most recent COVID-19 pandemic,” he said mentioning how India has been helpful to the Maldives in the past and in the recent times.