NEW DELHI: Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu on Friday claimed that the island nation has a really robust bilateral relationship with India and he’s planning to go to India as quickly as doable.
“I’m planning to go to (India) as quickly as doable. Now we have a really robust bilateral relationship,” Muizzu mentioned.
A number of media stories indicated that Muizzu might go to India in mid October.
Muizzu final got here to New Delhi to take part in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in on June 9 together with leaders of six different regional international locations.
Earlier, Muizzu mentioned that Maldives has no points with India, however the folks of Maldives are not looking for any international navy presence within the nation.
Talking at Princeton College on the sidelines of his ongoing journey to the USA to take part within the United Nations (UN) Common Meeting, Muizzu detailed that the problem was a international navy presence within the nation.
“Even one international navy personnel in Maldives shouldn’t be one thing the Maldivian folks settle for. However being them coming from India does not imply we’re towards India,” Muizzu mentioned including that had the officers been from some other nation, the objection would nonetheless have been the identical
The connection between India and the Maldives has been strained since Muizzu’s administration took workplace in November 2023.
His marketing campaign included an “India-out” stance, which known as for the withdrawal of Indian navy personnel from the Maldives. This demand was shortly acted upon, resulting in the alternative of Indian navy presence with civilian personnel. Tensions escalated additional when derogatory remarks towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi had been made by Maldivian officers, prompting backlash and the suspension of these concerned.
