Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu to visit India in October to reset relations

Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu will travel to India in the second week of October for a visit that is seen as an attempt to reset bilateral ties after an acrimonious period in the relationship, people familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Muizzu, who last came to New Delhi to participate in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in on June 9 along with leaders of six other regional countries, is set to be in India for the bilateral visit during October 7-9. His meetings with the Indian leadership, including Modi, are scheduled for October 8, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

This will also be Muizzu’s first bilateral trip to India since he became president in November 2023 on the back of an ‘India Out’ campaign. His government’s efforts to reduce the Maldives’ dependence on India and a demand for the removal of some 85 Indian military personnel deployed in the Indian Ocean archipelago to operate three aircraft took bilateral ties to a fresh low.

Last December, Muizzu’s government, which is perceived to be pro-China, terminated a 2019 agreement with India for joint hydrographic surveys. This was followed by several steps to bolster defence cooperation with China and Turkey.

However, there have been signs of a thaw in the overall relationship in recent months. Shortly after India replaced the military personnel who operated and maintained two helicopters and an aircraft, used mainly for humanitarian missions, with civilian experts, Muizzu was a surprise addition to the list of regional leaders invited to Modi’s swearing-in.

“There has been a definite dialling down of the rhetoric from the Maldives. Now the two sides will look for ways to take things forward and strengthen relations,” one of the people cited above said.

Muizzu’s trip in June was followed by a visit to the Maldives by external affairs minister S Jaishankar in August, when the two sides signed an agreement on introducing India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) system in the archipelago and inaugurated several projects built with Indian grants and loans.

Signs of a thaw came from Muizzu himself, when he described India as “one of the closest allies and invaluable partners” of the Maldives at a meeting with Jaishankar. Earlier this month, Muizzu’s spokesperson announced he would visit India “very soon” on the same day that two junior ministers, who were suspended in January for derogatory comments against Modi, resigned from the government.

The Indian side has also helped the Maldives avoid the risk of defaulting on its Islamic bond payments by extending the State Bank of India’s (SBI) subscription to government treasury bills worth $50 million for another year. The treasury bills had matured on September 19. In May this year, the SBI subscribed treasury bills worth $50 million under the same mechanism, again at the request of the Maldivian government.

Sameer Patil, a Mumbai-based security expert with Observer Research Foundation, said the latest developments in bilateral ties reflected the pragmatic approach adopted by Muizzu in recent months. “After the initial outbursts of anti-India sentiments, the Muizzu administration has made reconciliatory moves towards India, as is evident from his participation in Modi’s swearing-in and the impending visit,” he said.

“This also reflects a pragmatic realisation that he can’t keep a distance from India, knowing fully well the perils of depending only on China, as well as the overall regional situation, where he needs on his side,” Patil added.