The government of Japan has waived visa for diplomatic and official passport holders in the Maldives.

As part of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan Hayashi Yoshimasa’s ongoing official visit to the Maldives, the Exchange of Notes between the two governments was observed on Sunday.

Taking to Twitter following the ceremony, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid expressed delight that Maldives and Japan were able to initiate visa waiver measures, that would lead to the exemption of visas for all Maldivians.

As a first step of the process, FM Shahid and his Japanese counterpart witnessed the Exchange of Notes at the ministry building in Malé City on Sunday.

FM Shahid assured that close collaboration will be observed to conclude the visa facilitation process favorably for all Maldivians as soon as possible.

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Ahmed Khaleel and Ambassador of Japan to the Maldives Takeuchi Midori exchanged the notes.

Under the Exchange of Notes observed on Sunday, visa requirements have been exempted for diplomatic and official passports for a period of 90 days.

Further, the Exchange of Notes to provide a grant aid of 122 million Japanese Yen for the continuation of scholarships opportunities to be offered by the Japanese government for the fiscal year 2023, under the Japanese Project for Human Resource Development Scholarship (JDS), was also observed.

The project was implemented in August 2020 by the Japanese government in a bid to further promote human resource development in the Maldives and under the grant, six more scholarships will be provided to Maldivian students this year.

Sunday’s ceremony was attended by officials from the foreign ministry, the Ministry of Higher Education, Civil Service Commission, Maldives Immigration, Embassy of Japan and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).