Defence diplomacy being the first and most important pillar of defence and security, especially for a small country such as the Maldives, MNDF recognizes the critical need for close and meaningful cooperation with the neighboring militaries and that of other friendly countries. Thus, cooperation with regional and international partners are diligently continued every year in areas such as capacity building, mobilizing military assistance, joint trainings, exercises and operations as well as through other mutually beneficial cooperative activities and engagements. The Department of International Defence Cooperation and Policy (DIDCP) at the Ministry of Defence, in coordination with Defence Attaches and Advisors, plans and synergizes these activities enhancing the overall operational capacity of the MNDF whereby augmenting interoperability with neighboring militaries and that of other countries.
With the new leadership, a greater emphasis has been made to enhance defence cooperation with foreign countries. Significant number of high level visits have been made intensely focusing on key areas such as (a) building capacity of MNDF, (b) mobilizing military assistance, (c) obtaining training in foreign military and civilian institutions, (d) undertaking joint military operations with friendly countries, (e) conducting joint exercise and training events, and other goodwill activities. Furthermore, office of Defence Adviser has been established at the embassy in Malaysia in addition to the existing offices in India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and efforts are underway to establish the same in the UK. In addition, an MNDF delegation is actively participating in the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition since January 2021.
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