Maldives President arrives, will meet PM Modi today

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu arrived in New Delhi this afternoon on a state visit from October 6 to 10. Muizzu and his entourage, that includes his spouse Sajidha Mohd, arrived on board an Indian Air Force (IAF) owned civilian plane — Airbus A321.

Muizzu is scheduled to meet PM Narendra Modi tomorrow. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar called on the visiting dignitary and posted on X: “Pleased to call on President Muizzu today at the start of his state visit to India. Appreciate his commitment to enhance India-Maldives relationship. Confident that his talks with Modi tomorrow will give a new impetus to our friendly ties.”

Meanwhile, the office of the President of Maldives said Muizzu would meet President Droupadi Murmu, PM Narendra Modi and other senior Indian government officials. “These discussions will centre on strengthening bilateral cooperation and enhancing the relationship between the two nations,” it said.

The President is also scheduled to visit Mumbai and Bangalore later this week. This will be his first bilateral visit to India. The visit comes just two months after he cozied up to India by doing a ‘U-turn’ from the time rode to power in November last year riding an ‘India-out’ campaign.

Muizzu had earlier visited India in June 2024 to attend the swearing-in ceremony of PM Modi.