Muizzu Sends His Foreign Minister To Delhi For First High-Level Ministerial Meeting

Maldivian foreign minister Moosa Zameer will visit New Delhi this week in what will be the first high-level ministerial visit by the Maldivian government since President Mohamed Muizzu was elected.

The visit, scheduled for Thursday (May 9), comes a day before the deadline for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from Maldives.

The announcement of the visit was made by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). The MEA said Zameer will meet external affairs minister S Jaishankar for discussions on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.

A pro-China Muizzu came to power in November 2023 defeating Ibrahim Mohamed Solih in the Maldivian elections. Muizzu campaigned on the “India Out” plank to ascend to the post and had said that upon winning elections he would take capital Male closer to Beijing.

Soon after coming to power he asked India to withdraw its military personnel from the island country.

Later in February 2024, India and Maldives agreed that India would pull out the 80-odd soldiers stationed in the Maldives between March 10 and May 10. India has already withdrawn two batches in the last three months.

The MEA said that India sent “competent Indian technical personnel” to replace the “present personnel” who will now operate the two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft that India gave to the Maldives.

“Maldives is India’s key maritime neighbour in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and Foreign Minister Zameer’s visit is expected to lend further momentum to the bilateral cooperation between the two countries,” the MEA statement said.

A report by the Indian Express said that India recently approved highest-ever export quotas for essential commodities to Maldives for 2024-25 under a unique bilateral mechanism. Under this mechanism, the export quotas for eggs, potatoes, onions, sugar, rice, wheat flour and pulses, river sand and stone aggregates were raised.

The report highlighted that the approved quantities are the highest since this arrangement came into effect in 1981.

Following the increase in the quotas, the Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer thanked India for the renewal of the quota and the gesture.