Mohamed Muizzu’s 1st bilateral visit to India from tomorrow

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu will be travelling to India on a state visit from October 6 to 10. 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 he came 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 Narendra Modi.

The MEA said during his visit to India, Muizzu will hold discussions with Modi on bilateral, regional and international issues. Relations between India and Maldives evened out when EAM S Jaishankar visited the island nation in August. Muizzu had then mentioned New Delhi as one of his country’s ‘closest allies’ — an invaluable partner that “facilitates and provides aid whenever Maldives has needed it”. He had made these remarks in the presence of Jaishankar. The country had sought debt relief. In September, India allowed the rollover of a $50 million payment due from Maldives, by allowing an additional year to the island country to re-pay the sum.