King Salman bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia is to visit the Maldives next month during a five-nation Asian tour, according to Saudi Gazette news website.
The website cited sources that the monarch will be visiting Indonesia, Japan, China and Malaysia in addition to the Maldives to expand “ties with East Asian nations in the changed global scenario”.
King Salman will be accompanied on the tour by the Second Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud.
The Gazette did not specify a date for the tour while the Maldives’ government is also yet to disclose information on the pending visit.
This will be King Salman’s first official visit to the Maldives as the Saudi monarch. He had previously spent a vacation in the archipelago in 2015 when he was the defence minister, and made an official visit in 2014.
President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom had called upon the king on a visit to Saudi Arabia last October. The kingdom has become one of the closest allies of the Maldives during the current president’s administration.
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