Why is the foreign minister of the Maldives on a visit to India?

May 11, 2024 2:42 am

Mohammed Muijju, who is known to be pro-China, is in power in the Maldives. After he came to power, Maldives’ relations with India reached a rock bottom on various issues. In the meantime, Foreign Minister Musa Zamir has visited India as the first minister of the Muizju government. He reached New Delhi on Wednesday.

Musa Zamir himself confirmed his official visit to India in a tweet shared on social media X. Arrived in New Delhi as part of my first bilateral official visit to India, he wrote. Looking forward to fruitful discussions, strengthening relations and experiencing India’s vibrant cultural experience.

India’s Ministry of External Affairs also confirmed Musa Zamir’s visit on their official Twitter page. They wrote, Warmly welcome Maldivian Foreign Minister Musa Zamir on his official visit to India. We need to discuss bilateral and regional issues and find ways to accelerate our multilateral relations.

The Maldivian foreign minister’s visit to India comes at a time when New Delhi is working to bring back all Indian troops stationed in the country by May 10. However, Musa Zamir’s visit can be seen as an attempt to normalize relations between the two countries.

Earlier, the fourth round of high-level core group bilateral meeting was held between India and Maldives on May 3. At that time, the Indian government said that Indian troops would be withdrawn from Maldives before May 10.

In an interview given to the Indian news agency ANI, Musa Zamir said that the insulting comments made against India by the Maldives will not be repeated in the future. Necessary measures will be taken to ensure that this does not happen.

Musa Zamir welcomes Indians to Maldives again to mitigate the decline of Indian tourists in Maldives. “I think our tourism minister has clearly said that he wants to welcome (Indian tourists) and I myself want to welcome Indians who want to visit Maldives,” he said.