The US Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert Blake, has responded to concerns from India and Sri Lanka and denied that there are plans for a US military base on the archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

Blake said he could not authenticate an alleged leaked draft of a Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the Maldives and the US, which seemed to suggest the establishment of US military bases on the islands, claiming that the agreement would provide a framework for existing joint military exercises.

Sri Lanka and India had expressed concern about the agreement, which was published on a Maldivian website, but Blake said that the agreement was nothing out of the ordinary, pointing out that the US has SOFAs with over 100 countries around the world.

"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 in an interview with PTI.

"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,

"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,

"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,

"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) co-operation,

"We always try to be transparent with India about everything that we are doing in South Asia. But certainly on Maldives we always wanted to be transparent on our military activities," he said.

When asked if India was ok with the agreement, Blake responded "Well, I do not want to characterise their (response)? you would have to ask them. Hope they are. They should not see anything?

"[...] They (Indians) have not (expressed their concerns). But it is not for me to characterise their views about it," he said.

"There are no plans to establish a US naval bases in Maldives. So they (Sri Lanka) should not be worried about that," Blake said when asked about the reported Sri Lankan concerns on the agreement.

"As I said, we have exercise programs very frequently and we anticipate that those would continue. But we do not anticipate any permanent military presence. Absolutely no bases of any kind," Blake said.