NEW DELHI, MAY 7   :    The Foreign Minister of Maldives Moosa Zameer will be on a day-long visit to India on May 9, Thursday, during which he will hold talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on bilateral and regional issues of mutual interest.

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, a statement said.

The visit comes days after the two countries held the Fourth Meeting of the India-Maldives High-level Core Group in New Delhi on May 3, during which it was agreed that India will replace its military personnel at the last of the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10.

Zameer’s is the first official visit to India by a senior official of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu’s government.

The withdrawal of Indian military personnel manning the aviation platforms was a key campaign promise of President Muizzu, who is seen as pro-China.

India-Maldives relations have been choppy since the government of President Muizzu took office.
India and Maldives had decided to set up the core group following a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Muizzu on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai in December last year.(UNI)