Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu on Monday claimed that India and the Maldives have agreed to send back the first group of Indian troops deployed in the island before March 10.

In his first presidential statement at the opening of the last session of the 19th Parliament, he said talks are going on with India to send back their troops.

He said the Indian Army will move the military personnel from one of the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by March 10 and from the remaining two by May 10, local media reported.

Mr Muizzu said that his biggest presidential promise is to protect the freedom and sovereignty of the people of Maldives. He said the support of a large majority of the people of the Maldives for his government was a pledge to withdraw foreign troops from the country, recover the lost part of Maldives seas and cancel any agreement made by the state that could undermine the nation’s sovereignty.”

He announced that he will establish the ability of the Maldives military to maintain the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) 24 hours a day. He noted that the main principle his government will hold in running the affairs of Maldives is to give priority to the people and the country or the policy of ‘Pro Maldives,’ Sun Online reported.

The removal of Indian troops in the Maldives was the main campaign of Muizzu’s party. Currently, there are around 80 Indian troops, along with Dornier 228 maritime patrol aircraft and two HAL Dhruv helicopters, stationed in the country.

Last week, the second meeting of the high-level core group between the Maldives and India took place in New Delhi.

“Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platforms by 10 March 2024, and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by 10 May 2024,” the Maldives Foreign Ministry stated.

The Maldives said that both sides reviewed the existing bilateral cooperation to improve and enhance the partnership in the fields of defence and security cooperation, economic, and development partnership.