Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his address to the Maldives Parliament has said that they were proud to have stood with Maldives through thick and thin, and added that India will continue to be a reliable, strong and leading partner for Maldives.

"India has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Maldives to ensure its freedom and support here democracy, prosperity and peace. Be it the incident of 1988 or the more recent water shortage or fighting natural calamities such as the Tsunami of 2004," Modi said.

Modi further added that the strong mandate in both the countries for development, prosperity and stability has opened new avenues for cooperation.

The PM added that India will continue to be a reliable, strong and leading partner for democracy and prosperity in Maldives.

“Relations between two countries are not confined to their governments. The ties between people are their life-blood of these relations. Therefore, I attach special emphasis to all those efforts which promote people-to-people exchanges," Modi said.