Maldives Foreign Minister will visit India on May 9 amid diplomatic row
Amid a diplomatic standoff between the two countries, Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer will be on an official visit to India on Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official statement.
According to the press release, the Maldivian Minister will hold a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar to discuss bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.
“Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer will be in India on an official visit on May 9, 2024. During his visit to New Delhi, External Affairs Minister Zameer will meet Foreign Minister Dr S Jaishankar for discussions on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest,” the MEA statement said.
“The Maldives is India’s most important maritime neighbor in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and Foreign Minister Zameer’s visit is expected to provide further impetus to bilateral cooperation between the two countries,” it added.
Earlier, the Maldivian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Foreign Minister Mansoor will visit India from May 8 to 10.
“The Minister of Foreign Affairs His Excellency Moosa Zameer will be on an official visit to India from May 8 to 10, 2024,” the press release said.
“During the visit, Minister Zameer will meet with Indian Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and hold discussions on deepening and expanding the long-standing partnership between the Maldives and India,” it added.
Notably, this will be Foreign Minister Zameer’s first official visit to India since taking office.
The visit comes as India has said it will replace its military personnel from the Maldives before May 10.
On May 3, India and Maldives held the fourth meeting of the bilateral High-Level Core Group and reviewed the replacement of Indian military personnel from the island nation by May 10 and noted that the government will replace military personnel before the specified time. Earlier, the Mohamed Muizzu-led Maldives government had formally requested India to withdraw its troops from Male.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Maldives said in a press release that both sides have reviewed existing bilateral cooperation. “Discussions were held on a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including development and defense cooperation.”
“Both sides noted with satisfaction that the Government of India will replace military personnel on the last of the three aviation platforms by May 10, and that all logistical arrangements will continue as scheduled,” the press release said.
It was further agreed that the fifth High Level Core Group meeting will take place in Male on a mutually acceptable date in the month of June/July.
Last month, the Ministry of External Affairs said that the first batch of Indian personnel in the Maldives had been replaced by technical personnel.
The Ministry of External Affairs earlier said that both India and the Maldives have agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives.
Last month, the MEA said the first batch of Indian technical personnel reached the Maldives to replace the defense personnel.
India and the Maldives have held two high-level core group meetings, and the third is expected to take place soon.
The removal of Indian troops from the country was Muizzu’s party’s main election campaign. Currently, around 70 Indian troops, along with Dornier 228 maritime patrol aircraft and two HAL Dhruv helicopters, are stationed in the Maldives.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: May 8, 2024 | 12:26 pm IST