WASHINGTON (TIP): Ruling out establishing a military base or having permanent boots on the ground in Maldives, a top Obama administration official has said that the US has consulted India on the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which it is currently negotiating with the island nation.

“We do not have any plans to have a military presence in Maldives,” assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Robert Blake told PTI in an interview, adding that Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is an effort to provide a framework to the ongoing joint military exercises that the US has with Maldives.

“I want to reassure everybody that this SOFA does not imply some new uptick in military co-operation or certainly does not apply any new military presence. It would just be to support our ongoing activities,” Blake said when asked about the concerns being raised in both India and Sri Lanka after a Maldivian news website reported about it and posted an alleged leaked copy of the draft SOFA agreement running into eight pages.Blake, could not verify the authenticity of the alleged draft of the SOFA agreement posted by a Maldivian news website.

“I haven’t seen the draft agreement. So I can’t comment. But we are in the process of negotiating one now. These are standard text round the world, nothing very secret about them,” he said. “I do not foresee that this (SOFA) is going to be difficult negotiations (with Maldives). These are the things we do with partners around the world,” he said, adding that it might be very well should be able to signed very soon.

According to unverified draft copy of the SOFA agreement, Maldives would allow US forces access to ship bunkering facilities, as well as sea ports and other facilities in the Indian Ocean island nation. “I would like to reassure all our friends in India, what it is and what it isn’t. We have status of forces agreements with more than 100 nations around the world. And these are basically agreements we have with partners where we have significant military activities, typically exercises,” he said. “So for example, with Maldives we have coconut grove, which is an annual marine exercise.

So the status of forces agreement helps to provides framework for those kinds of cooperative activities. “And they are desirable things to have. But it does not in any way signify an expansion of our military presence or some major new development in the US-Maldivian military co-operation. It’s simply more of a framework to provide for (ongoing) cooperation,” Blake said.