Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu.  (File photo | AP)
India

Why Maldives President Muizzu is headed to India next week

Dr Muizzu visited India in June when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath as PM for the third time. However, the upcoming visit will be his first state visit.

Yeshi Seli

NEW DELHI: Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu will be coming to India on a state visit from October 7th to 10th.

“President Muizzu will begin his state visit to India on October 7th and will also visit Bengaluru and Mumbai subsequently,” said Randhir Jaiswal, spokesperson of Ministry of External Affairs.

Dr Muizzu visited India in June when Prime Minister Narendra Modi took oath as PM for the third time. However, the upcoming visit will be his first state visit.

This visit will be viewed as a significant one specially after the upswing in anti-India sentiment that was witnessed some months back. External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar had gone to Maldives in August and had bilateral meetings with his counterparts and also called on President Muizzu.

“Maldives is one of the cornerstones of our ‘Neighborhood First’ policy. To quote PM Modi -For India neighborhood is a priority and in the neighborhood Maldives is a priority. We also share the closest bonds of history and kinship,” Dr Jaishankar had said when he visited Male.

During his meeting with President Muizzu Dr Jaishankar discussed various aspects of bilateral partnership which included development partnership, defence and maritime cooperation, capacity building, economic and trade ties and people to people ties.

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