India and Maldives agreed on a set of "mutually workable solutions" after the second core group meet held between both the nations on Friday. Both nations had released statements underlining the decisions taken in the meet. India will replace its military personnel in the three aviation platforms in the Maldives by May 10.
The Maldivian Foreign Ministry in a statement said that the first phase of the process would be completed by March 10.
The decision comes after the second round of talks between India-Maldives, going on for over two weeks, concluded in Delhi.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that, both sides "agreed on a set of mutually workable solutions to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms" that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives.
"Both sides agreed that the Government of India will replace the military personnel in one of the three aviation platform by March 10 and will complete replacing military personnel in the other two platforms by May 10," the Maldivian foreign ministry said.
"During the meeting, both sides continued their discussions on wide ranging issues related to bilateral cooperation towards identifying steps to enhance the partnership, including expediting the implementation of ongoing development cooperation projects," the MEA said.
The core group meet was agreed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai in December.
Muizzu had given an ultimatum for the India to withdraw its troops from the island nation by March 15. There are around 80 Indian military personnel in Maldives, mainly to operate two helicopters and an aircraft for required evacuations and humanitarian missions.
India-Maldives tensions erupted after pro-China Muizzu came to power in November. Muizzu had asked India to withdraw its troops by March 15 after he landed from his five-day China visit in January.
The Maldives is one of India's key maritime neighbours in the Indian Ocean Region.
After the first meeting of the core group on January 14, the Ministry of External Affairs said that sides were looking at finding a mutually workable solution to enable continued operation of Indian aviation platforms that provide humanitarian and medical evacuation services to the people of Maldives.
