Both sides agree on complete withdrawal of Indian troops in Maldives by May 10: Maldives Foreign Ministry
Feb 02, 2024
New Delhi [India], February 2 : India will replace its military personnel in one of the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by March 10 and will complete the replacement by May 10, according to the Maldives Foreign Ministry.
The second meeting of the high-level core group between the Maldives and India took place in the national capital on Friday.
"Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platform by 10 March 2024, and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by 10 May 2024," the Maldives Foreign Ministry stated.
The Maldives said that both sides reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation to improve and enhance the partnership in the fields of defence and security cooperation, economic, and development partnership.
It was also agreed that the third meeting of the high-level core group will be held in Male on a mutually agreeable date during the last week of February.
Notably, the Ministry of External Affairs stated in its statement that both India and Maldives have agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac services to the people of Maldives.
It said that the two sides continued their discussions on wide-ranging issues related to bilateral cooperation towards identifying steps to enhance the partnership, including expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects.
"Both sides also agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medvac services to the people of Maldives," the MEA added.
Earlier on January 14, India and the Maldives held the first meeting of the High-Level Core Group in Maldives.
Earlier, Maldives local media reported that Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has asked the Indian government to withdraw the Indian troops from the island nation before March 15.
Notably, the removal of Indian troops in the Maldives was the main campaign of Muizzu's party. Currently, there are around 70 Indian troops, along with Dornier 228 maritime patrol aircraft and two HAL Dhruv helicopters, stationed in the Maldives.
On the second day of assuming office, Muizzu officially requested the Indian government withdraw its military personnel from the Maldives.
In December last year, President Muizzu claimed that, after dialogue with the Indian government, an agreement was reached to withdraw Indian military personnel.
