Maldivian President, Modi review progress in ties

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on Tuesday reviewed the progress in bilateral ties between the two nations.

Sharing photos of the meeting in Hyderabad House, Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Arindam Bagchi said the two leaders also "discussed ways to further deepen the special partnership".

Following their one-on-one, Modi and Solih also led India-Maldives delegation level talks "during which the two sides will review bilateral ties and discuss ways to strengthen linkages in areas of development partnership, trade, connectivity and P2P ties, among others", the spokesman said.

Solih, who arrived in the national capital on Monday on a four-day visit to the country, also met External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar.

After their meeting on Monday evening, Jaishankar tweeted: "Our Neighbourhood First and Maldives' India First policies are complementary. They take our special partnership forward."

Solih's last official visit to India came in December 2018, which was also his first foreign tour since taking office earlier that year.

During the 2018 visit, New Delhi announced a financial assistance package of $ 1.4 billion and also offered an additional 1,000 scholarships over the next 5 years.

Even Prime Minister Modi had chosen Maldives for his first foreign tour after being re-elected in 2019.

Solih also paid an informal visit to Bengaluru in 2019 to discuss capacity building framework and the training of the Maldivian cricket team.