Maldives-India holds fourth round of talks ahead of troops exit

Maldives and neighbors India on Friday held the fourth round of high-level bilateral talks ahead of the exit of Indian military personnel stationed in the island nation. 

During the discussions held in New Delhi, both sides reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation including a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including development and defence cooperation, Maldives foreign ministry said in brief statement.

"Both sides noted with satisfaction that the Government of India will replace military personnel at the last of the three aviation platforms by 10 May and all the logistical arrangements are going ahead as per schedule," the statement read.

The relations between the two friendly nations have been strained since incumbent president Dr. Mohamed Muizzu took office in November last year on the back of a nationalistic campaign centralized towards removing Indian troops stationed in the archipelago to operate two helicopters and donier aircraft. 

The then opposition led "India Out" campaign was fueled by claims that there were over a thousand Indian soldiers on the ground in the Maldives under the guise of operational military staff. 

However, the government since taking over has not been able to prove the claims insisting that the exact number of Indian soldiers cannot be verified, placing the figure around 80. 

After the initial round of talks between the two countries, both sides had agreed to phase out the Indian soldiers exit to be replaced by Indian civilians.

The second segment of Indian soldiers had left on April 9 and replaced by the Indian civilians team. 

Maldives has scarcely used the Indian gifted aircrafts for search and rescue and medevac operations since the new government took over. Muizzu's government has since acquired three military drones from Turkey and is in talks to get more aircrafts from the US government.