President Muizzu scheduled to make India visit ‘very soon’

Maldivian President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu will be making an official visit to India “very soon”, according to Heena Waleed, the chief spokesperson at the President’s Office.

She made the announcement during a press conference held at the President’s Office on Tuesday afternoon.

Heena told reporters that while the exact date for the highly-anticipated trip is yet to be finalized, Male’ and New Delhi are discussing a date which is of convenience to the leaders of the two countries.

“President is scheduled to make a visit to India very soon. As you are aware, such trips are scheduled for a time of maximum convenience to leaders of the two countries. Discussions regarding this are in progress,” she said.

Maldivian leaders have traditionally chosen neighboring India, the country’s closest bilateral partner, for their first official visit. However, unlike his predecessors, President Muizzu, who assumed office in November last year, made his first official visit to Türkiye.

While he visited New Delhi on June 9 to attend Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s inauguration for a third term in office, he has yet to make a state visit to the neighboring country.

However, there have been official visits between the two countries by other top government officials, including Maldivian Foreign Minister Moosa Zameer and Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar.

Relations between Male’ and New Delhi had been strained in the early days of President Muizzu’s presidency after he demanded that India withdraw its troops from Maldives – executing a pledge he made during his presidential campaign. Things escalated further after three Maldivian deputy ministers made disparaging remarks regarding India and Indian Prime Minister Modi on the social media platform X.

Maldives Foreign Ministry was quick to distance itself from the remarks, saying that they do not represent the views of the Male’ government. The three junior ministers were suspended, and two of them – Mariyam Shiuna and Malsha Shareef resigned earlier on Tuesday.

Despite the earlier turmoil, officials from both Male’ and Delhi have repeatedly expressed keenness to maintaining relations between the two countries.