Need to regain trust between Maldives, India: Dunya Maumoon

Former Maldives foreign affairs minister Dunya Maumoon on Sunday extended the hand of friendship towards India and said that the trust should be regained between the two countries.

The statement from Maumoon, who is the daughter of former President of the Maldives Maumoon Abdul Gayoom came after meeting with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi.

Taking to Twitter, Maumoon said, "It was such a pleasure to call on my friend HE @SushmaSwaraj to pass on greetings from my father. HE @maumoonagayoom built a warm friendship between our countries while he was in office. We need to regain the trust between our countries."

India-Maldives relations have been strained recently after Male snubbed helicopters and work permit of India.

The rift between the two countries escalated after the Maldives inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Pakistan to get help for developing its infrastructure in power sector in July.