Will Indian troops be moved out of the Maldives? The two nations met within the nationwide capital to determine on the identical with New Delhi saying that they “agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions” with no point out of troops’ withdrawal. The Maldives, however, claimed that the Indian troops will probably be “replaced” by May.

“During the meeting, both 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,” mentioned the Ministry of External Affairs in a press release.

“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 (medical evacuation) to the people of Maldives,” the Ministry added.

India has a deployment of round 80 personnel, together with medical workers, to function three plane to patrol the archipelago’s huge maritime territory.

“Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platform by March 10 and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by May 10,” the Maldivian overseas ministry mentioned at this time in a press release after the assembly.

The two sides determined to arrange the core group following a gathering between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Muizzu on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai in December.

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu got here to energy in November after pledging to evict Indian forces.

New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be inside its sphere of affect, however the Maldives has shifted into the orbit of China – its largest exterior creditor.

Upon return from his first state go to to China in January, the President advised India to withdraw its troops by March 15.