New Delhi, Jul 11 (PTI) Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid on Tuesday said the island nation follows a pragmatic approach in its foreign policy and does not seek to pit one country against the other.

Delivering the 43rd Sapru House Lecture here, Shahid said the Maldives has cultivated and maintained strategic and mutually beneficial relationships that will enable it to contribute to efforts in holding order in the Indian Ocean.

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"A key partner in this regard is India. One of the first acts of President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, after he took office, was to meet Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, who was present at the swearing-in ceremony of the President in November 2018," Shahid said.

He said the relationship with India has been exemplary and its support was felt in every aspect of Maldivian society and economy.

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"India is contributing in a big way to the development of the country, to the development of resilience in the Maldives," Shahid said.

He said the Maldives has long since recognised the indispensable role that the United States plays in the Indian Ocean as well.

"And we enjoy extremely important, and mutually beneficial partnerships with Japan, Australia, China, and a host of other countries, in striving for economic and social development," Shahid said.

"What we seek is to not pit one country against another or one relationship against another. What we seek is partnership and cooperation. For our stability and prosperity, which in turn contributes to the region's stability and order," he said.

Shahid said the Maldives' story was also proof that size does not determine destiny and asserted that it has never hesitated to take a principled stand at multilateral fora and has been the vanguard in raising issues such as climate change.

He said when the Maldives became a member of the United Nations in 1965, questions were raised about the ability of small States to carry out obligations of the UN charter.

"For small States, being accepted into multilateral organisations, of which the biggest is the United Nations, becomes an international endorsement of their sovereignty and integrity. It becomes an acceptance of the country as an equal member of the international community," he said.

Shahid said it was the small States that voted in big numbers at the UN General Assembly when it took up the resolution on the war in Ukraine as the issue had left the Security Council in a deadlock.

"141 countries voted in favour of the resolution. Now what is interesting is, of the 141 countries that voted for that resolution, an overwhelming majority were small States," he said.

Shahid said small States that day stood for principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter and for multilateralism.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)