New Delhi: Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on Wednesday (October 21) met Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad, where the two sides targeted an over-tenfold increase in bilateral trade and the visiting dignitary again called for the revival of the SAARC grouping that has remained in stasis amid India-Pakistan tensions.Both countries also signed 20 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) spanning a range of sectors, including defence and maritime security.Muizzu’s visit, the first by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in 11 years, comes as the two countries mark the 60th anniversary of their bilateral relations that began in 1966.In his remarks at a joint press conference, Sharif announced that both countries have agreed to aim to boost bilateral trade from its current value of $13.9 million – which he said ‘does not reflect the true potential and possibilities’ borne by their ties – to $200 million over the next two years.They signed a total of 20 MoUs, including ones on cooperation in the defence and maritime security sectors. Other memorandums pertained to information technology, health, education, connectivity, environment and drugs among other areas.Speaking at the joint presser, Muizzu pivoted from the state of bilateral ties to the importance of multilateral cooperation before reiterating his pitch for the revitalisation of SAARC, i.e. the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.Malé, the president said, “firmly believes in the value” of the regional grouping as well as in the “tremendous potential” that the South Asian nations have to address their shared challenges through collective action.“The Maldives remains firmly committed to playing a constructive and proactive role in revitalising SAARC,” Muizzu said. Standing across from Sharif, he added that “rebuilding trust, encouraging meaningful dialogue and strengthening mutual understanding are essential to unlocking the full potential of regional cooperation”.“In this spirit,” he continued, “the Maldives stands ready to work closely with all SAARC member states towards creating the necessary conditions for convening the next SAARC summit at the earliest possible opportunity”.SAARC is a multilateral forum comprising all countries in South Asia, including Afghanistan. However, after India and other countries boycotted the grouping’s 2016 summit in Islamabad after the Uri terror attack, its 2014 summit in Kathmandu has remained its last one to date and the bloc has been more or less moribund amid Indo-Pakistani tensions.Three months ago too Muizzu had called for SAARC’s revival, telling a gathering at a Maldivian Independence Day event that differences ought to be settled by way of dialogue and that the grouping’s members must “return to the negotiating table in the interest of regional peace and cooperation”. He also offered Malé services as a mediator.India responded to his remarks – which had added to calls by another SAARC member in Bangladesh to revive the bloc – by saying that it is Pakistan that is “stymieing” the grouping.New Delhi “favours strong regional cooperation and has been working towards it for several decades now” but “everyone in South Asia is aware of which country and what activities are responsible for stymieing SAARC”, the external affairs ministry said.Sharif in his remarks on Wednesday also conveyed to Muizzu Pakistan’s stance that it is committed to resolving the Kashmir dispute “in accordance with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the aspirations of the Kashmiri people”. Since 1972, India has maintained that the Simla Agreement’s focus on bilateralism supersedes the conflict’s internationalisation via UNSC resolutions.He also expressed “serious concern” over India’s move to put the Indus Waters Treaty ‘in abeyance’ in the days after the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack. ‘Respect for internationally enforceable agreements is essential and necessary, and shared water resources should not be used as a weapon … Pakistan will consider any violation in this regard as an act of war,’ Sharif was cited as saying.On August 31 this year the Hague-based Court of Arbitration ruled that India’s decision to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty was not legally permissible and that the 1960 pact remains fully in force. New Delhi has rejected the ruling, saying the tribunal had no jurisdiction to pronounce on its sovereign decisions.