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Top diplomat to visit India as Pres Yameen's special envoy

Nafaahath Ibrahim
10 January 2018, MVT 14:24
President Abdulla Yameen (L) meets Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official visit to India. PHOTO/MIHAARU
Nafaahath Ibrahim
10 January 2018, MVT 14:24

The Foreign Minister Dr.Mohamed Asim is to visit India as President Abdulla Yameen's special envoy.

Asim’s three-day visit will start on Wednesday. The visit comes amidst rumours of a deteriorated relationship between the Maldives and its closest neighbour.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had said that, Dr. Asim would pay a courtesy call on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit. In addition to this, he will visit India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj to discuss about enhancing the diplomatic relationship between the countries.

The Ministry informed that Foreign Secretary Ahmed Sameer and Foreign Ministry’s joint secretary Aishath Azeema would be joining Asim on this trip.

The rumors about a strained diplomatic relation began when Maldives signed the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China. The Indian media claimed that this would increase China’s influence in the region. However, Maldivian government denied this and said that FTS would have not have any effects on the India-Maldives friendship.

Sushma had recently raised question about why India had not been able to aid Maldives in resolving the political issues that it had. Sushma added that India would always be the 'first friend' of Maldives.

Maldivian ambassador to India Ahmed Mohamed said that the talks of tensions between the two countries is not true. He went on to say that neither Maldives nor India would not let such baseless rumours affect their friendship.

Earlier this year, the Indian media reported that a delegation from India was to come to Maldives to resolve the political problems in the Maldives. Mohamed said that there had not been any official confirmations on this. He added that India and Maldives always discuss issues and that would not change because of any rumours.

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