Pakistan and the Maldives sign defence and maritime security pacts during Muizzu's Islamabad visit

Pakistan and the Maldives signed 20 memorandums of understanding in Islamabad on Wednesday, 21 October, with defence cooperation and maritime security among the areas covered. The agreements were exchanged during a three-day state visit by Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu, who arrived on Tuesday at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. It is the first visit by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in 11 years.

According to Anadolu Agency and the Press Trust of India, the memorandums cover defence cooperation, maritime security, information technology, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. Others deal with combating illicit trafficking and narcotics, health, food regulation, the recruitment of health professionals, vocational training, and youth and sports, while separate pacts were signed on agriculture, trade, fisheries, environment and education. The published reports did not set out the terms of the defence and maritime security memorandums.

Field Marshal Asim Munir, Pakistan's Chief of Defence Forces and army chief, called on Muizzu in Islamabad on the same day. Dawn, citing state-run Radio Pakistan, reported that the two men discussed the regional security environment and stressed the importance of stronger defence cooperation, institutional links and professional exchanges. According to that report, Munir reaffirmed Pakistan's commitment to regional peace and stability, and Muizzu praised the professionalism of the Pakistani armed forces.

At a joint press appearance after the signing, Sharif said his talks with Muizzu had covered strategic defence cooperation as well as Pakistani support for training Maldivians in policing, defence, education and health, Dawn reported. He told reporters that both countries would keep strengthening their relationship over the long term.

The economic agenda is modest by comparison. Sharif said annual trade of 13.9 million US dollars was only a fraction of the two countries' potential and announced a goal of 200 million dollars within two years, according to Edition.mv and Anadolu. The Maldivian outlet said the memorandums also cover Pakistani technical help to build data centres in Male and the atolls and support for Maldivian students at Pakistani medical universities.

Muizzu said the new memorandums would open fresh avenues for cooperation but would matter only if they delivered results, Anadolu reported. He welcomed talks on direct flights between the two countries and called for reviving the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, the regional grouping whose last summit took place in Nepal in 2014.

Sharif also used the appearance to restate Pakistan's position on Kashmir and to criticise India's April 2025 decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, which he described as a breach of a binding treaty, according to Anadolu.

The Maldives lies along major Indian Ocean shipping routes, which gives its security partnerships weight beyond the bilateral relationship, Moneycontrol noted in an explainer published the same day. The outlet said the agreements could give Islamabad new ways to build institutional links with Male in maritime security, law enforcement and intelligence-related fields, in waters that India regards as its immediate maritime neighbourhood.

Moneycontrol also cautioned that the available details contain no provision for military basing, the deployment of Pakistani forces or any arrangement directed against India, and that the scope of the defence cooperation has not been specified. It said the real test would be whether the defence and maritime security commitments turn into sustained joint activity.

The visit coincides with the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, established in 1966. Edition.mv noted that the last official visit to Pakistan by a Maldivian head of state was made by former President Abdulla Yameen in 2015.