The Maldives and India on Sunday initiated official talks on the withdrawal of Indian military personnel stationed in the Indian Ocean archipelagic nation, according to a media report, nearly two months after Male sought their removal. The talks began at the Maldivian Foreign Ministry headquarters in Male’, SunOnline newspaper reported.

Ibrahim Khaleel, the Minister at the President’s Office for Strategic Communications, told the newspaper that the meeting was that of the high-level core group which Maldives and India agreed to set up during the meeting between Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the COP28 in Dubai in December.