Kentaro Sonoura, one of the four special advisors to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has arrived in the Maldives.

Sonoura was welcomed at the Velana International Airport on Monday night by a deputation of Foreign Ministry officials, including joint-secretary Fathimath Najwa.

The advisor is a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Japan’s bi-cameral parliament the Diet.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono visited the Maldives in January of this year, and entered an agreement into promoting Tokyo’s ‘Indo-Pacific’ diplomatic strategy. Kono also visited neighbouring Sri Lanka and India in this visit.