In January, India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar met his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer in Uganda’s Kampala to renew the already strained ties. The meeting between two ministers was held weeks after Muizzu government asked Indian government to withdraw its military personnel from Male.
Maldives Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer is likely to visit India on May 9, a day before the archipelago nation set deadline for New Delhi to replace its troops with civilians to maintain the military helicopters.
This will be the first high-level visit from Maldives side to India since Mohamed Muizzu assumed office in November last year.
Ever since he came to power, the relations between two neighbouring countries have been frosty and it is expected that the two sides would discuss to reset the bilateral ties.
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In January, India’s external affairs minister S Jaishankar met his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer in Uganda’s Kampala to renew the already strained ties. The meeting between two ministers was held weeks after Muizzu government asked Indian government to withdraw its military personnel from Male.
A several rounds of talks was held and it was decided to replace the troops with civilian staffs to maintain the military choppers, which are engaged into humanitarian and medical emergency evacuation services. India’s two military choppers and a Dornier aircraft are in operation in the tiny island.
On Tuesday, Indian High Commissioner Munu Mahawar and Maldives' Minister of Economic Development and Trade Mohamed Saeed discussed ways to further strengthening bilateral economic cooperation between two countries.
It must be noted that the meeting held weeks after New Delhi allowed the export of certain quantities of essential commodities for the year 2024-25 at the request of the Maldivian government. May 10 deadline has been set by the Maldives for the complete repatriation of 88 Indian military personnel from the archipelago nation.
There was also an increase of 5 per cent in the quotas for eggs, potatoes, onions, sugar, rice, wheat flour and dal (pulses) and the approved quantities were the highest since this arrangement came into effect in 1981.
The 1981 India and Maldives trade agreement provides for the export of essential commodities.
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India-Maldives bilateral trade crossed the USD 300 million mark for the first time in 2021, which further crossed the USD 500 million mark in 2022.
It should also be noted that traditionally whoever assumes power in Maldives, he or she used to visit India first, reaffirming Male's "India first" policy.
Now, the tradition has been broken and Muizzu first visited Turkey, the UAE, and China.