President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih arrived in New Delhi, India, for his first State visit to a foreign country.
Mr Solih was preceded in India by his Foreign Minister the last month when the Nikkei Asian Review published a report alleging that India was willing to offer the Maldives a loan of USD$1 billion in exchange for the Maldivian government’s permission to permanently station Indian military personnel on Maldivian soil.
the maldives report has previously published a report analysing the upcoming deals with India, and may be read here.
The plan landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport of New Delhi this Sunday afternoon.
Mr Solih is accompanied on the three-day trip by a high-level delegation including First Lady Mrs Fathimath Fazna, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Abdulla Shahid, Minister of Finance Mr Ibrahim Ameer, Minister of National Planning and Infrastructure Mr Mohamed Aslam and Minister of Economic Development Mr Fayyaz Ismail.
Mr Solih, and the high-level Maldivian delegation were welcomed upon arrival by heads of Ministry of External Affairs of India.
During his visit Mr Solih will meet with Indian Prime Minister Mr Narendra Modi, Indian President Mr Ram Nath Kovind, and other senior officials of the Indian government.
Mr Solih and First Lady Mrs Fazna Ahmed will be residing at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace of India.
The President is scheduled to meet with the Maldivian community residing in India this Sunday evening.
Speaking to the press at the airport before his departure to India this Sunday morning, Mr Solih said the Maldives was grateful to India for its continuous support and assistance to development of Maldives. And confident the close bilateral cooperation will further strengthen and expand to multiple avenues in the times ahead.
He said the two governments will sign several bilateral agreements during his visit – one being an agreement on visa leniency.
“The two governments will sign a number of bilateral agreements on areas of cooperation – the most important agreement being the agreement on visa leniency,” said Mr Solih.
He said the visa leniency agreement will ease the process of
obtaining dependent visa and medical visa for Maldivian travelers to
India.
The two governments are also scheduled to discuss financial assistance to support the Maldivian government’s budgetary needs.
This story was adapted from Sun.mv
