The President’s office in partnership with the British High Commission Male’ have successfully concluded a two-day training and table-top exercise aimed at enhancing the Maldives’ capability to respond to large-scale emergencies involving terrorism elements.

The exercise, held at Crossroads Maldives, brought together eleven key security agencies from the Government of Maldives to build understanding around their roles and responsibilities during terrorist incidents, improve information flows to national coordination bodies, and identify strengths and areas for improvement in the National Terrorism Response Plan.

Speaking at the conclusion of the exercise, Ben Mellor, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s Director for Indo-Pacific said:

The UK remains committed to supporting our partners in building robust security frameworks. This joint exercise demonstrates the strong and enduring security partnership between the UK and Maldives, which has developed over many years of cooperation.

National Security Advisor H.E. Ibrahim Latheef stated:

The table-top Exercise will set a benchmark for future initiatives—one that promotes operational excellence, builds confidence among agencies. the strength of our preparedness will define the strength of our response.

He thanked the UK for their continued support to Maldives development particularly the security sector.

The UK has a longstanding commitment to security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, with the Maldives being a key partner. The UK continues to work with several Maldivian agencies particularly in security, to help keep both British and Maldivian citizens safe.

This exercise builds upon UK-Maldives security cooperation initiatives, which have included training, knowledge sharing, and capacity building across various security sectors.