The United Kingdom and the Maldives held their third strategic dialogue in London on 17 September, at senior-officials level. The joint communiqué, issued by the High Commission in Malé, speaks of security, peace and resilience in the Indian Ocean — defence, maritime security, counterterrorism and protective security — not of a new alliance treaty.

The co-chairs were Laure Beaufils, FCDO director for South Asia and Afghanistan, and Dr Hala Hameed, a secretary at the Maldives foreign ministry. London reaffirmed technical assistance, training and practical cooperation for policing, defence and maritime security.

The agenda also covered governance, justice, human rights, trade, education and climate. The Maldives welcomed the UK’s suspension of tariffs on tuna, from 20 May 2026 to 31 December 2028. More than 200,000 visitors from the United Kingdom travelled to the archipelago in 2025.

For a low-lying island state, sea-level rise is a security issue, not only an environmental one. The two sides tied cooperation to the Ocean Country Partnership Programme, ocean governance and COP31, where the Maldives speak for SIDS and AOSIS.

The position on Indian Ocean routes also interests London, in a region of growing major-power economic and military influence. The communiqué commits to an annual dialogue; it does not publish budgets, ships or delivery dates.

The text describes areas of work. It does not automatically create a military base and should not be read as a defence pact.

Image: Malé, Maldives / Wikimedia Commons. The capital of the archipelago, not the London meeting. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Third UK-Maldives Strategic Dialogue 2026: Joint Communiqué | GOV.UK; British High Commission Malé.