New Delhi:
Maldives Foreign Minister Abdul Samad Abdullah today spoke to External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid amid speculation that India could freeze proposed aid in response to the island nation cancelling its $511 million international airport contract with GMR Infrastructure.
Mr Abdullah is learnt to have told Mr Khurshid that Maldives President Mohamed Waheed will write to Prime Minster Manmohan Singh to explain the decision to cancel the contract.
Maldives government sources said there has been no official communication from India about cuts in the proposed aid.
The Maldives government had cancelled the 2010 agreement with GMR last week, rattling relations with India. The contract was given to GMR during the regime of President Mohamed Nasheed.
GMR had on Monday secured a stay from the Singapore high court against the Maldives government notice of November 27, through which its contract was terminated and the company asked to hand over the airport within seven days.
Immediately after the verdict, Maldives made it clear that its termination decision was "non-reversible and non-negotiable" and said no such injunction can be issued against a sovereign state.
GMR Infrastructure has said it will take all "legal remedies" to protect its contract. "It's not a question of compensation. We did not come here for compensation. We came here because we competed competitively in an international tender and won that bid," CEO of GMR Male International Airport, Andrew Harrison, said.
Upset with Maldives for terminating the project, Mr Khurshid had said it was a major setback in bilateral relations.
(With inputs from agencies)