The Maldivian President, Mohamed Muizzu, informed a doctrine on Monday that India and Maldives have agreed the Indian Army’s military personnel should relocate from one of the three aviation programmers before 10 March 2024.
Muizzu said so during his maiden speech right at the opening of the concluding season of the 19th Parliament. The situation has been all aglow in India and the Maldives ever since Muizzu took power in September, demanding a significant reduction in India’s impact on the island. The new Maldivian President has succeeded in building up a more cordial relationship with China, significantly increasing the battle for sway in this little island state among the detached New Delhi and Beijing.
China and the Maldives raised their status of relations with the visit of Muizzu to Beijing, which went one stage higher by accepting a “comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership”, which will broaden more investments from China into the Maldives. According to records from the World Bank, China is owed $1.37 billion by the Maldives, which represents around 20 per cent of the country’s public debt.
The Maldivian people’s freedom shall be secured, the President vowed. He promised that the majority of Maldivians were in favour of his decision to abolish the foreign troops, the reclamation of seas that were lost, and an effort to abolish agreements that might compromise themselves and the sovereignty of their country. Muizzu had blamed his predecessor for selling the national sovereignty to India and allowing the latter’s military personnel to be on the Maldivian islands.
Revealing plans to boost the Maldives armed forces, the President made a speech in Parliament that the military would always keep an eye on the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
What is more, the Muizzu addressing the inaugural session of People’s Majlis was attended only by 24 Maldivian MPs. The opposition, which includes the Maldivian Democratic Party and Democrats, decided to boycott the session, saying that the government’s behaviour could be undemocratic.
A whopping 56 MPs, made up of 13 from the Democrats and 44 more from MDP, boycotted the opening session. The party of Muizzu lobbied very noticeably for the withdrawal of the Indian troops from the Maldives.
According to the Maldives, they carried out some comprehensive assessments of their existing bilateral cooperation during the second high-level core group meeting between the two countries. First, building stronger alliances on defence and security, economic initiatives, and development projects was the key point of the focus.
The two parties agreed to hold the 3rd high-level core group meeting in Male during the final week of February on a date mutually acceptable to both parties. Indeed, the Ministry of External Affairs noted that India, along with the Maldives, has collectively identified practical measures to support the sustainability of Indian aviation platforms, thus providing humanitarian and medevac services to the inhabitants of the Maldives.
In the Joint Statement, several issues on different aspects of bilateral cooperation between the two sides were discussed, which highlighted measures for promoting partnership. Particular emphasis was placed on accelerating the development of projects already under implementation to promote the cooperation and mutual development of the nations.