Speaker Abdul Raheem scheduled for India trip in Feb

Maldives Parliament Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdulla is scheduled to make an official visit to India in February next year.

The upcoming visit was confirmed by Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita on Friday in response to a query by the Lok Sabha – the lower house of India’s bicameral Parliament.

According to Margherita, Abdul Raheem, accompanied by a parliamentary delegation, will visit India from February 10-14.

Abdul Raheem was invited to make the visit by Speaker of Lok Sabha, Om Birla.

“At the invitation of Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha, Speaker of People’s Republic of Maldives accompanied by a parliamentary delegation will visit India from 10-14 February 2025,” said Margherita, in a written response to a query regarding recent parliamentary exchanges by the Indian government in line with its ‘Neighborhood First’ policy.

The query also sought details of all parliamentary exchanges held in the recent years with special reference to the Maldivian Parliament.

“In keeping with the objectives of the ‘Neighborhood First’ Policy for enhancing people to people relations, regular parliamentary exchanges with our neighboring countries have been taking place over the years,” he responded.

Abdul Raheem and Birla had met in Geneva in October on the sidelines of 149th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

But the upcoming trip will mark Abdul Raheem’s first official visit to India since getting elected as the Speaker in May this year.

Abdul Raheem is the chairperson of the main ruling People’s National Congress (PNC), which had run its 2023 presidential elections campaign on an ‘India Out’ platform, alleging that the then- Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) administration had signed secretive agreements with India that threatened Maldives’ security and sovereignty.

Relations between Male’ and New Delhi had been strained in the early days of President Dr. Mohamed 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 following a social media post promoting India’s Lakshadweep as an alternative tourist destination to the Maldives.

The 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 last month ahead of the current state visit.

But despite the earlier turmoil, officials from both Male’ and Delhi repeatedly expressed keenness to maintaining relations and engaged in several high-level visits between the two countries.

Maldives and India have exchanged key visits since, including ones by President Muizzu to New Delhi and by Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar to Male’.