ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and the Maldives signed 20 memorandums of understanding on Wednesday, the biggest Pakistan Maldives MoUs package in years, and agreed to raise their bilateral trade from $13.9 million to $200 million within two years, as Maldivian President Dr Mohamed Muizzu continued his three-day state visit to Pakistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced the trade target after delegation-level talks at Prime Minister House in Islamabad. The visit is the first by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in 11 years, and comes as the two countries mark 60 years of diplomatic relations.
“There is no doubt that the two countries [will] keep on strengthening these relations for all time to come,” the prime minister said at a joint press stakeout after the signing ceremony.
Muizzu arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday at Shehbaz’s invitation, in what our earlier coverage noted was the first Maldivian presidential visit in more than a decade.
Pakistan Maldives MoUs: what the 20 pacts cover
The 20 agreements cover defence cooperation, maritime security, information technology, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, action against illicit trafficking and narcotics, social protection, health, the recruitment of health professionals, vocational training, youth and sports development, air connectivity, cooperation between police academies, pacts between the Maldives Civil Services Commission and Pakistan’s Federal Public Service Commission and Civil Service Academy, and cooperation in agriculture, trade, fisheries, environment, education, tourism and the arts.
Shehbaz said he would personally work with Muizzu “to translate these written MoUs into action with prompt decision-making and speedy implementation”.
He also announced that Pakistan would help the Maldives plant five million trees by providing 100,000 olive cuttings and 100,000 seeds of various plant species within a mutually agreed timeframe.
On technology, the prime minister said Pakistan was ready to share its experience with data centres. “Pakistan has also attained a reasonable level of expertise and professional capability in this field,” he said, offering Pakistan’s professional capabilities to the Maldives.
He noted that a large number of Maldivian students study at Pakistani universities and colleges, particularly in healthcare, and that 250 Pakistani doctors and paramedics serve in the Maldives. “This shall continue in future with bigger numbers,” he said.
Kashmir, Palestine and the Indus waters
The talks were not limited to trade. Shehbaz said he briefed Muizzu on Pakistan’s position on occupied Jammu and Kashmir and reaffirmed support for a peaceful resolution in line with United Nations Security Council resolutions. He also commended the Maldives’ “unwavering” support for the Palestinian cause.
The prime minister expressed “serious concern” over India’s decision to place the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, calling it a violation of a binding international treaty. He said Pakistan had made its position clear at forums including the UN General Assembly: water is a red line, and any violation “will be regarded by Pakistan as an act of war”.
The warning builds on Pakistan’s consistent line since India placed the treaty in abeyance in April 2025, a move Islamabad has treated as a breach drawing global scrutiny and one that the information minister says Pakistan will not accept.
Sixty years of ties, and a first in eleven
The last Maldivian presidential visit came in 2015, when Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom made a two-day state visit at the invitation of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Eleven years later, Muizzu’s trip coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations established in 1966.
Earlier on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called on Muizzu and discussed expanding cooperation in trade, investment, education, climate change and tourism. The Maldivian president will also attend a Pakistan-Maldives Business Forum during the visit to bring the two countries’ business communities together, part of the same trade push that saw Pakistan urging regional partners to settle trade in national currencies at the SCO summit.
President Muizzu was later conferred an honorary doctorate in politics by the International Islamic University Islamabad, which Shehbaz said recognised the Maldivian leader’s “sagacious and wise leadership”.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Pakistan and the Maldives agree on Wednesday?
Twenty MoUs spanning defence, IT, health, trade, tourism and more, plus a target to raise bilateral trade from $13.9m to $200m in two years.
How significant is this visit?
It is the first visit by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in 11 years and coincides with 60 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
What did Shehbaz say about the Indus Waters Treaty?
He called India’s move to place the treaty in abeyance a violation of a binding treaty and said any violation of Pakistan’s water rights would be regarded as an act of war.
