<span style="color: #222222;">India and Maldives signed a contract today for setting up Neighbourhood Fish Processing Plants at two of the islands in the neighboring country.</span><br />''<br />''High Commissioner of India Sunjay Sudhir participating in the ceremony recalled that the MoUs for implementation of the Fish Processing Plants were signed during a Video conferencing between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldives President Ibrahim Solih last December.  <br />''<br />''He noted that there had been concrete progress regarding the projects despite the obstacles created by the COVID pandemic. These fish-processing plants are the first in a series of High Impact Community Development (HICDP) projects that India and Maldives have committed to execute together under a total grant of USD 5.5 million. <br />''<br />''<br />''These Projects chosen by the Government of Maldives have a high-level of community impact and participation in the areas of livelihood and income generation, health, education, gender and child empowerment etc. <br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">HICDPs constitute an important dimension of the dynamic development partnership between India and the Maldives. These projects are driven by the needs of communities on the islands. They will be implemented by City and Local Councils and thus will enhance the capacities of locally-elected representatives and support the decentralisation efforts of the Government of Maldives.</span><br />