In honor of President Muizzu’s arrival, the streets of Delhi have been adorned with the flags of both India and the Maldives. He will be officially welcomed by the Indian government tomorrow morning.
President Dr Mohamed Muizzu, First Lady Sajidha Mohamed, and a high level delegation of the Maldivian government has travelled to India on an official State visit.
President Muizzu has left for his first state visit to India, following an invitation from President Droupadi Murmu. He traveled on a special flight arranged by the Indian government, a gesture reserved for such visits by Maldivian Presidents.
The visit, which will run until Wednesday, includes stops in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore, where the President will engage in high-level business talks. The delegation accompanying President Muizzu includes Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Khaleel, Defense Minister Mohamed Ghassan Maumoon, Minister of Homeland Security and Technology Ali Ihusaan, Finance Minister Moosa Zameer, Health Minister Abdulla Nazim Ibrahim, and Economic Development Minister Mohamed Saeed.
Other key officials joining the visit are Attorney General Ahmed Usham, Tourism Minister Ibrahim Faisal, Transport and Civil Aviation Minister Mohamed Ameen, Construction and Infrastructure Minister Dr Abdulla Muththalib, and Chief of Staff at the President’s Office Abdulla Fayaz, alongside several senior officials.
In honor of President Muizzu’s arrival, the streets of India's capital city, New Delhi have been adorned with the flags of both India and the Maldives. He will be officially welcomed by the Indian government tomorrow morning. During the visit, he is scheduled to meet with President Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The President’s first meeting, with India’s External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, is set to take place this evening. Official talks and the signing of agreements with Indian leadership are scheduled for tomorrow.
President Muizzu will meet with the Maldivian community living in India tonight.
This will be President Muizzu’s first state visit to India since assuming office on November 17 last year. However, he previously visited the country in June to attend the swearing in ceremony of Prime Minister Modi and his Council of Ministers. During the visit, the two leaders met and discussed strengthening bilateral relations between Maldives and India.
President Muizzu and Prime Minister Modi last met on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai in December last year. His visit comes as relations between the Maldives and India have seen significant improvement.
Relations between the two countries had deteriorated after two Maldivian deputy ministers made defamatory comments about Prime Minister Modi and India on social media, amidst ongoing discussions about the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from the Maldives. The two officials, Malsha Shareef and Mariyam Shiuna were suspended from their roles in the Ministry of Youth and later resigned on September 10.
Withdrawal of Indian military personnel was a key pledge of President Muizzu, and the transition was carried out peacefully, with civilians replacing Indian troops as per the agreement between the two governments.
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