New Delhi: The first meeting of the India-Maldives high-level core group was held in Male, on Sunday, India’s foreign ministry said in a news release. It said both sides held discussions on a wide range of issues during the meeting.
This comes amid a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Male following some derogatory words made by a few Maldivian public figures, including government ministers, against India and the prime minister, Narendra Modi, recently.
According to the foreign ministry, the talks between Indian and Maldivian officials included bilateral cooperation towards identifying steps to enhance the partnership and expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects.
Both sides also held discussions on finding mutually workable solutions to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian services, like medical evacuation, to the people of Maldives.
The foreign ministry also said both sides agreed to hold the next high-level core group meeting in India.
Maldives want Indian troops out by March 15
The meeting between the Indian and Maldivian high-level core group comes on a day when a top official in the Maldives’ government said the country’s president, Mohamed Muizzu, has asked all Indian troops to leave the Maldives by March 15.
Abdullah Nazim Ibrahim, who is the principal secretary to Muizzu on public policy, told reporters in a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Male that all Indian military personnel have been asked to leave the atoll nation by March 15, 2014.
It may be recalled, as India Sentinels had reported, that the Muizzu government, a day after it was sworn in, officially asked India to pull out all its military personnel stationed in the Maldives. Muizzu, who is the leader of the Progressive Party of the Maldives and known for his pro-China stand, swept to power in the atoll nation in last year’s presidential election beating the-then incumbent president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih of Maldivian Democratic Party, with over 54 per cent votes. Solih is widely perceived as a pro-Indian politician.
