Male, 11 Jun: Describing his first official visit to India as a \u201csuccess\u201d for the Maldives and the region, President Mohamed Muizzu on Tuesday said, \u201cGod willing,\u201d the strong ties between the two countries will lead to increased prosperity for the Maldivians.
\n\u201cThis trip has been a success for the Maldives and for the region too,\u201d Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, told the state-run PSM Media at the end of his first India visit to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his council of ministers.
\nModi was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday for a record consecutive third term. Heads of the states from India\u2019s neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region attended the ceremony. Muizzu said he was delighted to receive Prime Minister Modi\u2019s invitation and \u201cequally delighted\u201d to have attended the event.
\n\u201cI am also grateful for being able to hold high-level meetings with the Prime Minister, President (Draupadi Murmu) and S Jaishankar (External Affairs Minister). I am confident that strengthened bilateral relations will further boost aspirations for the Maldives in the future,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cGod willing, the strong ties between the two nations will result in increased prosperity for the Maldives and Maldivians alike,\u201d Muizzu added.
\nEarlier in the day, a statement from the Foreign Ministry said here, \u201cThe President travelled to India at the invitation of Prime Minister His Excellency Narendra Modi, to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers of the Government of India.
\n\u201cDuring the visit, President Dr Muizzu attended a banquet hosted by the President of India, Her Excellency Draupadi Murmu, in honour of the visiting dignitaries.\u201d \u201cThe two Presidents also had a meeting in which they discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation between the Maldives and India,\u201d it said, adding that during the meeting, President Murmu conveyed her greetings to the new government and the people of Maldives.
\n\u201cShe expressed confidence that the island nation will continue on the path of prosperity and development under Muizzu\u2019s leadership,\u201d it said.
\nA statement by President Murmu\u2019s Secretariat in New Delhi said she expressed hope that India-Maldives relations will continue to strengthen in the years to come.
\nJaishankar also called on Muizzu and said, in a post on X, he looks \u201cforward to India and Maldives working together closely.\u201d Muizzu, known for his pro-China leanings, was visiting India for the first time almost six months after taking oath last November. Unlike his predecessors, who made the first port of call to New Delhi after assuming office, Muizzu had travelled to Turkiye first and to China for his first state visit in January.
\nThe ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain since Muizzu, within hours of his oath, demanded the withdrawal of all Indian military personnel operating three aviation platforms from his country. The Indian military personnel were replaced by Indian civilians last month. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Male, 11 Jun: Describing his first official visit to India as a \u201csuccess\u201d for the Maldives and the region, President Mohamed Muizzu on Tuesday said, \u201cGod willing,\u201d the strong ties between the two countries will lead to increased prosperity for the Maldivians. \u201cThis trip has been a success for the Maldives and for the region […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-242009","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242009\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}