Maldives new President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih will arrive in New Delhi on Sunday on a three-day state visit that is expected to reflect his regime’s desire to strengthen ties with India.
He will hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday who had attended the new government’s swearing-in ceremony in Male on November 17. The two countries are expected to sign some key agreements during the visit.
This is Solih’s first overseas visit after taking over as the President, suggesting that he would stick to the archipelago’s traditional ‘India First’ policy unlike his predecessor Abdulla Yameen, who took many controversial administrative decisions to favour China at the cost of India.
Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid had visited India last month, just a week after he took the oath of office, to do the groundwork for his President’s crucial visit to India. During the visit, he had reaffirmed Maldives’ special, close, and friendly relations with New Delhi, saying his country would be ‘sensitive towards India’s strategic and security concerns.’
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had assured her Maldivian counterpart that India would support the new dispensation in the Maldives in all socio-economic endeavours.