New Delhi: During the first high-level visit since the change in government in the Maldives, external affairs minister S. Jaishankar told his visiting Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer on Thursday (May 9) that bilateral relations between the two nations were grounded on “mutual interests and reciprocal sensitivity”.
Zameer arrived in New Delhi on Wednesday night for his first bilateral visit to India. This is the first-ever high-level visit between India and the Maldives after President Mohamed Muizzu took the reins in November last year.
With Muizzu having won the presidential elections on a nationalist platform to remove Indian soldiers from the Maldives, relations between the two sides have been rather strained in the last six months.
Maldives had asked India to withdraw its soldiers stationed in the Indian Ocean island nation to operate three aircraft for humanitarian purposes. The Muizzu government also withdrew an agreement on hydrography with India claiming that it didn’t want to collaborate with a foreign country on mapping its territorial waters. There has also been an increased presence of Chinese research vessels within the Maldivians’ maritime territory.
A core committee of officials from the two countries agreed on a timeline to withdraw the Indian soldiers and replace them with Indian technical personnel.
The visit of Muizzu to India coincided with the last batch of Indian soldiers leaving the Maldives on May 10 (Friday).
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that “both sides have been working together to ensure continued operation of the Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medevac services to the people of the Maldives”. “Accordingly, deputation of competent Indian technical personnel has taken place,” he added at the weekly briefing on Thursday.
The Maldivian government claimed that 88 Indian soldiers were deployed to manage two helicopters and one Dornier aircraft.
In his opening remarks at the formal talks, Jaishankar underlined that sensitivity to each other’s concerns were at the core of the relationship.
“As close and proximate neighbours, the development of our ties is obviously based on mutual interests and reciprocal sensitivity,” he said.
He said that India’s development assistant projects have benefitted the Maldivians directly. “They range from infrastructure projects and social initiatives to medical evacuation and health facilities. We have also extended financial support on favourable terms in the past.”
In a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Zameer wrote that the discussions “reflected on our long history of bilateral partnership shared by mutual respect and understanding”. “We exchanged perspectives on increasing engagement and exchanges between the Maldives and India, both bilaterally and in the international arena,” he wrote.
The Maldivian foreign ministry’s readout claimed that both ministers noted the “the fruitful economic partnership and the notable progress of projects facilitated through Indian grant assistance and line of credit initiatives”.
Zameer also appreciated “India’s steadfast support in fostering and advancing economic, trade, and investment ties between the two nations, as well as for India’s committed role in the socioeconomic advancement of the Maldives”, it noted.
With the Maldivian foreign minister visiting New Delhi during its election season, no announcements were made, as expected.
