On Thursday, Maldives foreign minister Moosa Zameer said he met with his Indian colleague S Jaishankar to explore the likelihood of President Mohamed Muizzu visiting New Delhi “very soon”. This comes as the two countries hold diplomatic discussions in an attempt to repair tense relations.
In response to disparaging statements directed against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the minister stated that the administration was taking steps to ensure that such occurrences would not occur again.
Zameer went on to justify President Muizzu’s decision to visit China rather than India following his election victory. He stated that conversations had already been undertaken with New Delhi over the visit to India, but were postponed due to the ‘convenience’ of all parties.
“The president visited both Turkey and China. I believe this was done mostly for convenience, as we had already discussed a visit to Delhi. But, for the sake of both parties’ convenience, we decided it could be alright to postpone it a little,” he explained.
Furthermore, he stated that during his meetings with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, they discussed the possibility of organizing Muizzu’s travel to New Delhi shortly.
“So, even now, in my meetings with the External Affairs Minister, we are discussing the President’s upcoming visit to Delhi. “Hopefully,” he said. He also made it plain that there is no military agreement with China.
Zameer stated, “I do not believe there is a military deal with China. The President of the Maldives has said unequivocally that no foreign troops would be deployed in the Maldives.
Jaishankar and Zameer also addressed debt relief measures for the Maldives during their conversation. According to the foreign minister, economic collaboration with India is a “integral part of the Maldivian economy”.
He further distanced his administration from the insulting statements made about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stating that it was not the Muizzu government’s viewpoint and that “proper action” was taken to ensure that it did not happen again.
“I believe, as you mentioned, we have stated that it is not the government’s position or opinion. And we feel it should not have happened. And then we are taking appropriate steps to ensure that this does not happen again,” Zameer added.
