NEW DELHI: India and the Maldives on Sunday reviewed the ongoing deployment of Indian civilian technical personnel to enable the continued operation of Indian aviation platforms in the island nation, the MEA said.
India and Maldives held their discussions on wide ranging issues related to bilateral cooperation.
This inter alia, included expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects through regular convening of joint monitoring mechanisms, efforts to boost bilateral trade & investment and enhancing people-to-people linkages through capacity building and travel.
The fourth meeting will be held in Delhi on a mutually convenient date.
It may be recalled that Maldivian President, Mohamed Muizzu, had earlier this month stated that all Indian troops on Maldives would have to leave by May 10th. This was after a batch of Indian civilian had replaced helicopter crew in Maldives.
On March 4th while addressing a residential committee in the island of Eydhafushi had said that no Indian soldiers whether in uniform or civilian clothes would be allowed to stay in Maldives beyond the May deadline.
It may be recalled that sending back Indian troops (who are primarily deployed to managed 2 Dorneir aircraft and one helicopter which are used for medvac and humanitarian operations) was on his election agenda and he had said that he would fulfil this within 100 days of his assuming charge as President.
There have been varying reports on the number of Indian military personnel in Maldives as most point out to 33 but some even suggest they could be over 85 in number.
On February 27th India had sent a team of civilian technical staff to replace the military personel attached with a helicopter in Addu.
The first core level meeting took place in Male on January 14th while the second took place in New Delhi on February 2nd.