Male:

India is supporting 65 community development projects worth USD 23 million in the Maldives and steady progress has been achieved in implementing them, the Indian mission said on Thursday.

Of the 47 High Impact Community Development Projects in Maldives under grant aid by the Government of India approved till November 2023, as many as eight are already completed.

Notwithstanding the diplomatic row in recent times, India is supporting 65 community development projects worth MVR 360 million (USD 23 million) in the archipelagic nation, the High Commission of India said.

“While the grant is being provided by the Indian government, the projects are selected in order of priority as set by the Maldivian government. Implementation of these projects are also undertaken by institutions appointed by the Maldives government,” news portal Edition.mv said.

“Happy to note steady progress of Greater Male Connectivity Project, being implemented with Indian grant and concessional credit @USD 500 million. GMCP is a transformational infrastructure project which will stimulate economic growth and improve ease of living in Maldives.” The Indian High Commission posted on its official X handle on Wednesday.

The post on X came after Maldives’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the High Commission of India in Maldives held a two-day meeting to review the ongoing projects when it was discussed that even as eight projects are completed, the rest of the High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) remain at different levels of progress.

These include a wide variety of projects spread throughout the atolls. Some initiatives included are the establishment of fish processing plants, drug detoxification centres, cultural centres, youth centres and sports complexes, Edition.mv reported.

Ambassador at Large Ahmed Naseer and High Commissioner of India to Maldives Munu Mahawar co-chaired the meeting, which saw the participation of senior government officials and other stakeholders.

The Memorandum of Understanding for this Indian Grant Assistance on implementation of these High Impact Community Development Projects through local institutions was initially signed between India and Maldives on March 17, 2019, it said, adding, “At the time, the MoU outlined a grant totalling USD 5.5 million (MVR 85 million).” In 2021, this MoU was renewed, increasing the grant to (USD 10 million) MVR 155 million; in January 2023, yet another MoU for grant assistance was signed, this time with a USD 6.5 million (MVR 100 million) increment, bringing the HICDPs grant from India to Maldives to a total of USD 16.5 million (MVR 255 million).

Additionally, there are also cash grant projects worth over USD 7 million (MVR 107 million), for multiple projects, it added.

India-Maldives relations started going south when within hours of his oath-taking in November 2023, President Mohamed Muizzu demanded India to withdraw its military personnel manning three aviation platforms from his country. The last of the military personnel were repatriated earlier this month and replaced by civilian personnel from India.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Male, Maldives:

Maldives will not renew an agreement with India to conduct hydrographic surveys and plans to acquire the facilities and machines required to do the exercise by itself, President Mohamed Muizzu has announced.

Mr Muizzu also announced that his country is working to establish a 24X7 monitoring system for the Maldivian waters this month to ensure control of its Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) despite its significantly large area.

The development comes days after China signed a defence cooperation agreement with the Maldives to provide free military assistance to foster “stronger” bilateral ties.

India-Maldives ties have suffered a setback ever since Mr Muizzu, who is blindly pro-China, assumed office last year. Hours after he took oath in November 2023, one of the first steps Mr Muizzu took, was to demand India to withdraw all its troops.

Mr Muizzu’s new announcement comes days after a Chinese research and ‘spy’ vessel spent about a week around Male and more than a month just outside Maldives’ EEZ.

Speaking at a ceremony at one of the islands that he was visiting on Monday, Mr Muizzu said, the Maldives Ministry of Defence is making efforts to obtain the facilities required for conducting the hydrographic surveys by the country itself.

“This will allow Maldives to conduct the underwater surveys of the country by ourselves. We will then acquire all insights of our underwater features and prepare charts, they will be drawn by us,” the president was quoted as saying by Edition.mv, a news portal on Tuesday.

Maldives’ former administration, led by then President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, had signed an agreement with the Indian government to conduct hydrographic surveys of Maldives’ underwater features.

“We decided not to renew the agreement entered into with the Indian government to scan and acquire all insights into our underwater bodies. All these underwater details are our property, our heritage,” Mr Muizzu said and claimed the Maldives earlier needed to purchase all such maps and survey data from India.

This is the first time that Mr Muizzu has publicly commented about the hydrographic survey plans of his government. His government has earlier announced that it reviewing more than 100 agreements signed with India by the previous regimes.

The most recent hydrographic survey carried out in collaboration with India’s Hydrography Office was launched in January 2021 as part of the agreement signed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 during his visit to Maldives.

“The former President had obtained the approval of the parliament to facilitate this hydrography services in the Maldives and confer the facility to the Defence Ministry,” the Edition.mv reported.

Meanwhile, two days earlier, Mr Muizzu, while visiting yet another atoll on Saturday said, his government has vowed to begin work on and establish a 24X7 monitoring system of the Maldivian waters in March.

Speaking with the locals of Raa Meedhoo, the President highlighted that the area of sea is twice as large as the entire land mass of the Maldives and noted that the Maldives “has not been in control of its Exclusive Economic Zone despite its significantly large area.”

“Although the EEZ is part of our territory, we did not have the capacity to monitor the area. God willing, our work (to monitor the Maldivian waters) will commence in March. We will establish a 24X7 monitoring system during this month,” Sun.mv, a news portal reported, quoting the President.

The Maldives Coastguard currently seeks regular assistance from the militaries of neighbouring countries, and carries out some of the special patrolling operations with foreign allies, the news portal said.
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Male, Maldives:

Stepping up his anti-India rhetoric, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has affirmed that no Indian military personnel, not even those in civilian clothing, would be present inside his country after May 10, a media report said today.

President Muizzu’s statement comes less than a week after an Indian civilian team reached the Maldives to take charge of one of the three aviation platforms in the island nation, well ahead of the March 10 deadline agreed by the two nations for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel.

Addressing the Baa atoll Eydhafushi residential community during his tour across the atoll, the President stated that due to his government’s success in expelling Indian troops from the country, people who spread false rumours, are attempting to twist the situation, a news portal Edition.mv reported.

“That these people [Indian military] are not departing, that they are returning after changing their uniforms into civilian clothing. We must not indulge such thoughts that instil doubts in our hearts and spread lies,” the portal quoted Mr Muizzu, widely regarded as a China-backed leader, as saying.

“There will be no Indian troops in the country come May 10. Not in uniform and not in civilian clothing. The Indian military will not be residing in this country in any form of clothing. I state this with confidence,” he said, on a day when his country signed an agreement with China to receive free military aid.

Earlier last month, after a high-level meeting in Delhi on February 2 between the two sides, the Maldivian foreign ministry said India would replace its military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10 and the first phase of the process would be completed by March 10.

In his maiden address to Parliament on February 5, he made similar remarks.

There are 88 military personnel manning the three Indian platforms that have been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives for the last few years using two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.

Mr Muizzu rode to power last year on an anti-India stance and within hours of taking oath demanded India to remove its personnel from the strategically located archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

Edition.mv further reported that while the first troops to depart the country are the Indian military personnel operating the two helicopters in Addu City, the military personnel present in Haa Dhaalu atoll Hanimaadhoo and Laamu atoll Kahdhoo are also expected to leave ahead of May 10.

India had agreed to remove their troops from Maldives under the condition that a number of their civilians equivalent to the military presence are brought to operate the aircraft.

The Opposition has been directing criticism at the administration asserting that the Indian personnel sent to Maldives as civilians are in reality military officials out of uniform and that the government has no way to ascertain otherwise, the portal claimed.

Meanwhile, local media reports also said that Maldives has successfully tied up with Sri Lanka to run flights for medical evacuation last week, further indicating that it is bent on removing all Indian troops in whichever category.

Further highlighting that securing true independence is a concept he regards with utmost priority, the President remarked that the State is exerting efforts with due importance “to regain the southern maritime area deprived of the country in addition to expelling Indian troops from the Maldives.”

“I am confident we can achieve this. The delay in concluding this task is due to the adverse procedures practiced during the implementation. It was done without even taking the matter to the parliament … in violation of the Constitution as well,” the portal quoted the President as saying.

The Maldives’ proximity to India, barely 70 nautical miles from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles from the mainland’s western coast, and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) gives it significant strategic importance.

The Maldives has been India’s key maritime neighbour in the IOR and it occupies a special place in its initiatives such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the Neighbourhood First Policy.’
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Male, Maldives:

Stepping up his anti-India rhetoric, Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has affirmed that no Indian military personnel, not even those in civilian clothing, would be present inside his country after May 10, a media report said today.

President Muizzu’s statement comes less than a week after an Indian civilian team reached the Maldives to take charge of one of the three aviation platforms in the island nation, well ahead of the March 10 deadline agreed by the two nations for the withdrawal of Indian military personnel.

Addressing the Baa atoll Eydhafushi residential community during his tour across the atoll, the President stated that due to his government’s success in expelling Indian troops from the country, people who spread false rumours, are attempting to twist the situation, a news portal Edition.mv reported.

“That these people [Indian military] are not departing, that they are returning after changing their uniforms into civilian clothing. We must not indulge such thoughts that instil doubts in our hearts and spread lies,” the portal quoted Mr Muizzu, widely regarded as a China-backed leader, as saying.

“There will be no Indian troops in the country come May 10. Not in uniform and not in civilian clothing. The Indian military will not be residing in this country in any form of clothing. I state this with confidence,” he said, on a day when his country signed an agreement with China to receive free military aid.

Earlier last month, after a high-level meeting in Delhi on February 2 between the two sides, the Maldivian foreign ministry said India would replace its military personnel operating the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10 and the first phase of the process would be completed by March 10.

In his maiden address to Parliament on February 5, he made similar remarks.

There are 88 military personnel manning the three Indian platforms that have been providing humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of the Maldives for the last few years using two helicopters and a Dornier aircraft.

Mr Muizzu rode to power last year on an anti-India stance and within hours of taking oath demanded India to remove its personnel from the strategically located archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

Edition.mv further reported that while the first troops to depart the country are the Indian military personnel operating the two helicopters in Addu City, the military personnel present in Haa Dhaalu atoll Hanimaadhoo and Laamu atoll Kahdhoo are also expected to leave ahead of May 10.

India had agreed to remove their troops from Maldives under the condition that a number of their civilians equivalent to the military presence are brought to operate the aircraft.

The Opposition has been directing criticism at the administration asserting that the Indian personnel sent to Maldives as civilians are in reality military officials out of uniform and that the government has no way to ascertain otherwise, the portal claimed.

Meanwhile, local media reports also said that Maldives has successfully tied up with Sri Lanka to run flights for medical evacuation last week, further indicating that it is bent on removing all Indian troops in whichever category.

Further highlighting that securing true independence is a concept he regards with utmost priority, the President remarked that the State is exerting efforts with due importance “to regain the southern maritime area deprived of the country in addition to expelling Indian troops from the Maldives.”

“I am confident we can achieve this. The delay in concluding this task is due to the adverse procedures practiced during the implementation. It was done without even taking the matter to the parliament … in violation of the Constitution as well,” the portal quoted the President as saying.

The Maldives’ proximity to India, barely 70 nautical miles from the island of Minicoy in Lakshadweep and 300 nautical miles from the mainland’s western coast, and its location at the hub of commercial sea lanes running through the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) gives it significant strategic importance.

The Maldives has been India’s key maritime neighbour in the IOR and it occupies a special place in its initiatives such as SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) and the Neighbourhood First Policy.’
 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Google Maps image locates Gan island in Maldives.

The government confirmed on Thursday that a team of Indian technical personnel have landed in Maldives to replace military troops that have been operating aircraft there. The development indicates a compromise between the Modi government and the recently elected Muizzu government on the contentious issue of Indian troops stationed in the Maldives that had become the target of the “India Out” campaign run by the ruling party. 

“The first team of technical personnel to operate the advanced light helicopter at Gan has reached Maldives. It will replace the existing personnel that were until now operating this platform. So that is where we are,” said Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal in response to questions about the move, that was first announced by the Maldives government on Wednesday. Mr. Jaiswal did not indicate the number of troops being replaced in the first batch, of a total 88 Indian military personnel understood to be stationed in the Maldives.

Explained |Unravelling the shift in India-Maldives relations

The confirmation also marks a major climbdown by New Delhi, that had earlier refused to withdraw the troops, including in 2018 when former President Abdulla Yameen had demanded the removal of Indian military personnel on several occasions, even refusing to extend their visas. After Mr. Yameen was defeated in elections by President Ibu Solih, the issue had subsided, but was revived as a campaign plank by President Mohammad Muizzu, who won elections in November 2023 and made the return of Indian military personnel a “priority”.

The announcement on the first batch of replacements comes ahead of the March 10 “deadline” that the Maldives government had reportedly given India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with President Muizzu in early December, and the leaders set up a high-level “core group” to discuss the issue. While the Maldivian government repeatedly said that the decision to replace troops with civilian technical personnel had been taken, New Delhi had been tight-lipped on the matter, saying only that the two sides were seeking “workable” and “mutually acceptable” solutions. 

Editorial | Choppy waters: On India-Maldives ties 

On February 4, however, Mr. Muizzu surprised many by announcing to the Maldivian Majlis or parliament that a deal had indeed been struck.

“As per the most recent discussions, military personnel on one of the three aviation platforms will be recalled before March 10, 2024. The military personnel on the remaining two platforms will also be recalled by May 10, 2024,” Mr. Muizzu had said. Subsequently the MEA had said that the troops would be replaced by “competent technical personnel”, but refused to comment on whether they would be civilian or military. 

The differences over the troops issue had led to other acrimonious exchanges between the two countries in January, and Maldives had skipped a key security conference in Mauritius, for the Colombo Security Dialogue, and downgraded its presence at the Indian Ocean Conference in Perth.  With the first step towards resolving the contentious issue seemingly taken,  India and Maldives indicated that they were restoring progress in some of their other areas of strategic cooperation. On Sunday, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives completed the latest round of biennial trilateral maritime exercises called “Dosti-16” held between their coast guard services. Speaking at the inauguration of the exercises, where Bangladesh participated as an observer, Maldivian Defence Minister Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon said that the Muizzu government “places the highest priority on ensuring that close relations, peace and stability is maintained between Maldives and neighbouring nations”.

Male, Maldives:

A contentious Chinese research ship reached the Maldives on Thursday in the latest sign of the archipelago’s diplomatic reorientation towards Beijing and away from its traditional benefactor India.

Local residents said they had spotted China’s Xiang Yang Hong 3 at the Thilafushi industrial port near the capital Male.

The 100-metre-long (328-foot) vessel was at an anchorage near Male on Thursday evening, according to the website Marinetraffic.

The Maldives’ pro-Beijing government said earlier the vessel was docking for a port call to rotate crew and take on supplies, on the condition that it would not conduct “research” while in its territorial waters.

India is suspicious of China’s increasing presence in the Indian Ocean and its influence in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, which are strategically placed halfway along key east-west international shipping routes.

Relations between Male and New Delhi have chilled since pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu won elections last year.

Muizzu has asked India to withdraw 89 security personnel based in the Maldives to operate reconnaissance aircraft by March 15.

But the president has also insisted he does not want to upend ties with New Delhi by replacing Indian troops with Chinese forces.

Sri Lanka refused entry to Xiang Yang Hong 3 after two other port calls from Chinese vessels since 2022 raised objections from India.

That included the ship Yuan Wang 5, which specialises in spacecraft tracking and which New Delhi described as a spy ship.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)