Maldives President Muizzu arrives in India on first state visit

Male/New Delhi, Oct 6 (IANS) Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu arrived in New Delhi late Sunday afternoon on a five-day state visit - his first since assuming office - at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu. 

During the visit, he is scheduled to hold high-level meetings with President Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior officials of the Indian government.

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar will call on the visiting dignitary later in the evening with a ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhawan scheduled for Monday.

Muizzu will visit Rajghat and pay tributes to Mahatma Gandhi before holding bilateral discussions with PM Modi at the Hyderabad House. Later on Monday, he is scheduled to meet Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and President Murmu.

Accompanied by First Lady Sajidha Mohamed and a high-level delegation, the Maldives President will be visiting Agra on Tuesday.

"President Dr Muizzu remains committed to enhancing bilateral ties with nations that play a crucial role in the development and growth of the Maldives, ensuring a dynamic and proactive foreign policy for the nation... Discussions will focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation and further enhancing the longstanding relationship between the two nations," Muizzu's office said in a statement on Friday.

He will also be visiting Mumbai and Bengaluru for business engagements.

Earlier this year, the Maldives President had attended the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi and the Council of Ministers at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on June 9, 2024.

He had also met PM Modi on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai on December 1, 2023.

"The visit signifies the importance India attaches to its relations with Maldives. It is expected to lend further momentum to cooperation and robust people-to-people ties between the two countries," MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said last week.

In August, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar had visited Maldives on an official three-day visit, his first since assuming the office for a second term in June.

Before that, he had previously visited the strategically-significant Indian Ocean archipelago in January 2023 as India maintained that Maldives occupies an important place in New Delhi's vision of 'Neighbourhood First' and 'SAGAR'.

Even as the relationship between the two countries became strained last year, India remained a key provider of development assistance to the island nation with several projects funded by India benefitting the lives of thousands of people in the country.

--IANS

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