Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom will be embarking on a two-day state visit to India from tomorrow in an effort to further bilateral ties with its SAARC neighbour.
Yameen’s visit comes at a time when there are mounting tensions between both countries over the arrest of their former President Nasheed and subsequent sentencing last year.
At that time India had expressed serious concerns on the arrest and manhandling of former President Nasheed and had urged the Maldivian government to resolve their differences under the constitutional and legal framework.
Additionally, due to these developments at that time Prime Minister Narendra Modi avoided a visit to the archipelago. This is despite the fact that President Yameen was among the SAARC leaders to have attended Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in May 2014.
In fact, Yameen’s first state visit after assumption of office was to India in January 2014.
This time, he will be accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dunya Maumoon, Minister for Fisheries and Agriculture Dr Mohamed Shainee, and three members of the Maldivian Parliament.
His itinerary includes a meeting and working lunch with Modi on April 11 and a call on the President Pranab Mukherjee the same evening. Later that day, he will be meeting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
Swaraj had visited the Maldives in November 2014 and again in October 2015 for the India-Maldives Joint Commission, which was held after a gap of 15 years.
India and Maldives commemorated 50 years of diplomatic ties last year.