President arrives in New Delhi for State visit

President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has arrived in New Delhi, India, for his first State visit to a foreign country.

The plan landed at the Indhira Gandhi International Airport of New Delhi this Sunday afternoon.

Solih is accompanied on the three-day trip by a high-level delegation including First Lady Fathimath Fazna, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Ameer, Minister of National Planning and Infrastructure Mohamed Aslam and Minister of Economic Development Fayyaz Ismail.

Solih, and the high-level Maldivian delegation was welcomed upon arrival by heads of Ministry of External Affairs of India.

During his visit Solih will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Indian President Ram Nath Kovind, and other senior officials of the Indian government.

Solih and First lady 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, 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 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.