Maldives Finance Minister Mohammed Saeed has defended President Mohammed Muizzu’s stance against the presence of “foreign troops” in the country, saying that Maldives still considers India as its friend.
Muizzu, who has pro-China leanings, had asked India to withdraw 88 of its military personnel from Maldives within hours of taking oath in November last year.
He described the presence of Indian troops as a threat to the sovereignty of Maldives.
During an interview with Turkish news organization ‘TRT World’, Maldives Finance Minister Mohammed Saeed was asked whether Maldives can be a friend of both China and India, to which he replied that Maldives is not just a friend of two countries. He is a friend of all countries.
According to ‘Sun.mv’ news portal, Saeed said, “I think Maldives is a friend of all countries, not just two countries. We are a tourism-based country and our doors are open to the world. As a holiday destination, both Chinese and Indians praise the Maldives. “As far as trade is concerned, both markets are important for Maldives.”
Saeed said that Maldives still considers India as a friend. “Of course, we have friendship (with both countries),” he said. “Our President, our government and our people reject the presence of foreign troops here.”
Muizzu has said many times that after May 10, no Indian military personnel will be allowed to stay in Maldives.
The first batch of Indian military personnel deployed to operate the helicopters have left the country. Muizzu has said that Indian soldiers deployed on other aviation platforms will also return this month.
He has said that Indian military personnel operating the third aviation platform will have to return by May 10.
When asked about the recent decline in the number of Indian tourists in Maldives, Saeed said that “some things have been blown out of proportion” on this issue.
He said, “I think some things have been exaggerated regarding the decline in the number of Indian tourists. The number of tourists coming from some countries is decreasing while from other countries it is increasing.
“For example, China was number one in terms of number of tourists before Covid,” Saeed said. But now the number of tourists from there is increasing again. We have flights coming here from India almost on an hourly basis every day.