 "Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, Moosa Zameer tweets, \"Pleased to welcome External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this evening. We will be continuing our discussions on all areas of our bilateral cooperati")
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives, Moosa Zameer welcoming External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar arrived here on a three-day official visit to reset the bilateral relationship with the Maldives, the first high-level trip from India after the archipelago nation’s pro-China president Mohamed Muizzu assumed office last year.
Jaishankar’s trip to the Maldives comes weeks after President Muizzu’s visit to India in June to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain since Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, took charge of the top office in November 2023.
Within hours of his oath, he had demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country. Subsequently, the Indian military personnel were replaced by civilians by May 10, the mutually agreed date.
This is the first official visit of Jaishankar to the Maldives since assuming office for a second term in June 2024. His previous visit was in January 2023.
Jaishankar’s three-day visit till August 11 comes at the invitation of his counterpart, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Moosa Zameer.
Jaishankar is expected to pay a courtesy call to President Muizzu and also hold official talks with Zameer to review the existing bilateral cooperation.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Aug 09 2024 | 9:45 PM IST
